5 Minutes for our Planet

L'Alliance Pour La Planète, a group of French environmental organizations, appeals to all people to give our planet a 5-minute break. The initiative “5 Minutes for our Planet,” started in France, but quickly spread via the Internet to the whole world.

Everyone who wants to participate is requested to turn off his or her lights on the 1st of February, 2007 from 7:55 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. local time. It will be like a wave across the planet from East to West.

The L’Alliance says that it's not so much about saving the energy, but about letting citizens, media and political decision-makers focus on the energy that's being wasted and the urgency to take action.

A five-minute break for our planet: it doesn't take all that long and costs nothing.

Why February 1st? It will be the eve of the United Nations Climate-Change Report to be issued in Paris on Friday, February 2nd.

The Power of One can change the world, but as a collective we can make a greater impact.

Please circulate this message.

For more information in French go to L'Alliance Pour La Planète , www.lalliance.fr
For more information in Spanish go to Amigos de la Tierra, www.tierra.org
(No information about this event was found in English).

Pasadena Rose Parade 2007

Here are a few pictures taken on the birth of the New Year -- January 1st -- at the Pasadena Rose Parade 2007.

George Lucas was Parade Grand Marshal:

As the Star Wars movie adventure prepares to celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2007 (the first movie opened in the U.S. on May 25, 1977), the Rose Parade paid tribute to "Star Wars" as the most famous intergalactic adventure in movie history.

"A one-of-a-kind assembly of Star Wars stormtroopers, a marching band and two elaborate floats represented the scope of the Star Wars galaxy," says the HGTV website, and more...

The Parade included the 501st Legion of Stormtroopers, who are among Star Wars' most ardent enthusiasts. The 501st engages in charitable activities while displaying their love of Star Wars through handmade, exacting costume replicas. The 501st was led by no other than Darth Vader himself. These 200 members of the 501st displayed flags of the 36 states and 22 nations that make up this remarkable marching group.

Great picture of the Honda float:

Here's what HGTV's website has to say about it:

"American Honda (#27)
Float Theme: Once Upon a Time

American Honda celebrates the good nature that classically triumphs in fairy tales, fables and internationally renowned festivals such as the Tournament of Roses. Drawing on the lore of good nature battling evil nature in centuries of classic fables and nursery rhymes, American Honda presents a pair of fabulous dragons. Breathing actual fire and smoke, the good dragon soars 50 feet above the parade route to protect a gigantic fairy tale castle from the onslaught of evil. Flames leap nearly 15 feet out of the dragon's mouth, and smoke streams from its nostrils as it engages in an epic moral battle — ensuring that the princess of the castle will live happily ever after. "

I've Been to the Mountaintop

I've Been to the Mountaintop
~ By Martin Luther King

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAmountaintop.htm

April 3, 1968
Memphis, Tennessee

You know, several years ago, I was in New York City autographing the first book that I had written. And while sitting there autographing books, a demented black woman came up. The only question I heard from her was, "Are you Martin Luther King?"

And I was looking down writing, and I said yes. And the next minute I felt something beating on my chest. Before I knew it I had been stabbed by this demented woman. I was rushed to Harlem Hospital. It was a dark Saturday afternoon. And that blade had gone through, and the X-rays revealed that the tip of the blade was on the edge of my aorta, the main artery. And once that's punctured, you drown in your own blood--that's the end of you.

It came out in the New York Times the next morning, that if I had sneezed, I would have died. Well, about four days later, they allowed me, after the operation, after my chest had been opened, and the blade had been taken out, to move around in the wheel chair in the hospital. They allowed me to read some of the mail that came in, and from all over the states, and the world, kind letters came in. I read a few, but one of them I will never forget. I had received one from the President and the Vice-President. I've forgotten what those telegrams said. I'd received a visit and a letter from the Governor of New York, but I've forgotten what the letter said. But there was another letter that came from a little girl, a young girl who was a student at the White Plains High School. And I looked at that letter, and I'll never forget it. It said simply, "Dear Dr. King: I am a ninth-grade student at the Whites Plains High School." She said, "While it should not matter, I would like to mention that I am a white girl. I read in the paper of your misfortune, and of your suffering. And I read that if you had sneezed, you would have died. And I'm simply writing you to say that I'm so happy that you didn't sneeze."

And I want to say tonight, I want to say that I am happy that I didn't sneeze. Because if I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been around here in 1960, when students all over the South started sitting-in at lunch counters. And I knew that as they were sitting in, they were really standing up for the best in the American dream. And taking the whole nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the Founding Fathers in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been around in 1962, when Negroes in Albany, Georgia, decided to straighten their backs up. And whenever men and women straighten their backs up, they are going somewhere, because a man can't ride your back unless it is bent. If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been here in 1963, when the black people of Birmingham, Alabama, aroused the conscience of this nation, and brought into being the Civil Rights Bill. If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have had a chance later that year, in August, to try to tell America about a dream that I had had. If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been down in Selma, Alabama, to see the great movement there. If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been in Memphis to see a community rally around those brothers and sisters who are suffering. I'm so happy that I didn't sneeze.

And they were telling me, now it doesn't matter now. It really doesn't matter what happens now. I left Atlanta this morning, and as we got started on the plane, there were six of us, the pilot said over the public address system, "We are sorry for the delay, but we have Dr. Martin Luther King on the plane. And to be sure that all of the bags were checked, and to be sure that nothing would be wrong with the plane, we had to check out everything carefully. And we've had the plane protected and guarded all night."

And then I got into Memphis. And some began to say that threats, or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers?

Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

Quote By Maya Angelou

"We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty."

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/01/18/home/king-oslo.html

December 11, 1964

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Oslo, Norway

Your Majesty, your Royal Highness, Mr. President, excellencies,
ladies and gentlemen:

I accept the Nobel prize for peace at a moment when 22 million
Negroes of the United States of America are engaged in a creative
battle to end the long night of racial injustice. I accept this award
in behalf of a civil rights movement which is moving with
determination and a majestic scorn for risk and danger to establish a
reign of freedom and a rule of justice.

I am mindful that only yesterday in Birmingham, Ala., our children,
crying out for brotherhood, were answered with fire hoses, snarling
dogs and even death. I am mindful that only yesterday in
Philadelphia, Miss., young people seeking to secure the right to vote
were brutalized and murdered.

I am mindful that debilitating and grinding poverty afflicts my
people and chains them to the lowest rung of the economic ladder.

Therefore, I must ask why this prize is awarded to a movement which
is beleaguered and committed to unrelenting struggle: to a
movement which has not won the very peace and brotherhood
which is the essence of the Nobel prize.

After contemplation, I conclude that this award which I received on
behalf of that movement is profound recognition that nonviolence is
the answer to the crucial political and moral question of our time--
the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without
resorting to violence and oppression.

Civilization and violence are antithetical concepts. Negroes of the
United States, following the people of India, have demonstrated that
nonviolence is not sterile passivity, but a powerful moral force
which makes for social transformation. Sooner or later, all the
people of the world will have to discover a way to live together in
peace, and thereby transform this pending cosmic elegy into a
creative psalm of brotherhood.

If this is to be achieved, man must evolve for all human conflict a
method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The
foundation of such a method is love.

The tortuous road which has led from Montgomery, Ala., to Oslo
bears witness to this truth. This is a road over which millions
of Negroes are traveling to find a new sense of dignity. This
same road has opened for all Americans a new era of progress
and hope....

A PRAYER IN NEW ENGLAND

~ by Ramson Lomatewama (Silent Winds - Poetry of a Hopi)



I am alone

yet

in the presence of the creator.

I feel the creation force that surrounds me.

I am a part of it.



Hear me, you who stands alone.

I have come to talk.

Be at peace, for I come with a humble heart.

I am one among you.



Spruce trees

you are strong

you are quiet

your branches outstreched.

the clouds rest on your branches.



I am I

a part of nature

a part of your creation.

Hear me. You who guides the life path.

Let the spruce trees bear witness.



I ask for wisdom

for the sake of our children.

I ask for quidance

for the sake of mine own.

Lead me in the days to come.



For I am I.



Your servant.

Nothing But Love

~ By Mother Teresa of Calcutta

"Let's concentrate on a worthwhile goal...That no child be unwanted,
that no person go unloved. And let's not stop smiling at whomever we
meet, especially when it's hard to smile."
"It is easy to love those who are far away. It isn't always easy to
love those who are right next to us. It is easier to offer a dish of
rice to satisfy the hunger of a poor person, than to fill up the
loneliness and suffering of someone lacking love in our own family."
"How can you love God whom you do not see, if you don't love the
neighbor whom you do see--the neighbor you know and live with every
day?"

"The fruit of Silence is Prayer.
The fruit of Prayer is Faith.
The fruit of Faith is Love.
The fruit of Love is Service.
The fruit of Service is Peace."

"The fullness of our heart is expressed in our eyes, in our touch, in
what we write, in what we say, in the way we walk, the way we
receive, the way we need. That is the fullness of our heart
expressing itself in many different ways."

"Spread love everywhere you go:
First of all in your own house.
Give love to your children,
To your wife or husband,
To your next door neighbor.
Let no one come to you without leaving better or happier.
Be the living expression of God's kindness; kindness in your face,
kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, and kindness in your
warm greeting."