From Despair To Impassioned Inspiration (Carolyn Baker)

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and I am free.

~Wendell Berry~

July 11, 2010 (CarolynBaker.net) -- An Italian proverb states that a person who lives by hope will die by despair. Americans for nearly three centuries have lived by hope, and as we know, our current president centered his campaign around it. It is as if since our inception as a nation we have, by whatever means necessary, warded off despair in favor of hope, and I believe that if we as a people were to abandon the shallow sense of hope we insist on maintaining, we would be driven to the depths of our despair regarding the current state of our planet.

About one year after Barack Obama became President, I noticed on one radical left website the words "the ‘hopium' is wearing off." While the majority of Americans believe that Obama is a better President than George W. Bush, Jr., it has now become painfully obvious that Obama's leadership has offered little divergence from the policies of the Bush administration. In the throes of what can only be described honestly as the Second Great Depression, Americans suffering from a deluge of unemployment, foreclosures, bankruptcies, loss of health insurance and retirement savings have not yet fully confronted their despair. They pretend that a return to unlimited growth and delirious consumerism is possible and even likely in the long term, but all the while, just beneath the surface of that chimera the demon of despair is growing increasingly restless and ominous.

Despair moves us to confront "existential" questions, and let's remember that that big word isn't just a philosophical term but directly refers to our existence. Existential questions are questions of meaning and purpose --questions about the human condition such as: Why do the innocent suffer? Why do those who commit brutal acts so often go unpunished? If there is a God, why do these things happen? Why am I here?

Despair also brings us face to face with an emptiness that is at our core, regardless of how fulfilled and serene we feel. And while some theologians would assert that the emptiness is a God-shaped void that only religion can fill, I would argue that the emptiness cannot be filled by anyone or anything because it is a fundamental reality of the human condition. However, I hasten to add that the pain of the void can be minimized in a variety of ways.

more

http://worldnewstrust.com/index.php?option=com_flexicontent&view=items&cid=149:all-edited-content&id=8063:from-despair-to-impassioned-inspiration-carolyn-baker

The Voters' Guide for the upcoming Wa. State Primary Election is only available online.

To find out about the candidates online, go to:
http://wei.secstate.wa.gov/osos/en/PreviousElections/2010/primary/Pages/OVG_20100817.aspx#ososTop

If you want to read about the Congressional candidates in our district, here's how to do it:

1. Click the + sign next to "Congressional";

2. Click the + sign next to "Congressional District 2";

3. Click on the name of the candidate you want to read about.

Also, you'll find the "Larry Kalb v. Rick Larsen Comparison Sheet" on Larry's website at: www.kalbforcongress.com/Comparison_Sheet.php


Please share this information with everyone you know in our district!
Ballots go out in the mail on July 28 and must be postmarked by August 17.

Many thanks!