Simons Says
Words of wisdom and simply questions and a few answers about life and the universe…
The Footprints of Africa
The footprints of Africa lie at the very heart of our civilisation: "Momma Africa" has sent, and is still sending, her finest sons and daughters into a "slavery" and bondage to a system foreign to her soul and sensibility.
Simon Says: Respect the attempts of the poor to maintain dignity in the face of suffering and oppression.
The ideals which have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been kindness, beauty, and truth…Albert Einstein
One of the tribes we meet in the desert regions of West Africa packs up their tents seasonally to begin another journey elsewhere through the desert. The way they construct their new tent and the materials they use tell the story of their past "pilgrimage". Whilst looking at this I had explained to Simon about our bodies being the "tents" God uses to take us through the deserts of our journeys in life. Once grown old, or destroyed by death,we have another more beautiful and immortal one promised to us by God.
(For those of you who would like to follow this thought in the New Testament, see 2 Cor.5:1-10)
To endure is greater than to dare; to tire out hostile fortune; to be daunted by no difficulty; to keep heart when all have lost it…Who can say this is not greatness?…William M Thackeray
Journey to the Sun - A Celtic Poem for Simon
Warn me when you reach land solo voyager, I am weary too of this earth-bound existence:
There is no horizon here where the sweet music sounds and the sea’s Voice shouts the way…
But for you, Sun-Shone, there are endless horizons all leading homewards
and all returning at last to where we began in the heart of an infinite Majesty.
So I too am following home-wards and will row the stronger now to close the distance between…
Therefore, you my lovely Son, rest easy on your oars, row little:
Let the wind take you where it will so the Wild Goose call
Will land us safe ashore together…by David A Murden
Freedom - A Poem for Simon
Running from this river of death, straining to achieve,
We are not free.
Trying to outlive, outdo, outrun, we are not free…
Being bound by conventions, by our body’s size and shape,
By fashion, by religion, by hope for greater prosperity,
By pleasure;
We are not free.
Unless we love unreservedly and lavishly, knowing our being will outlast the stars: identify with the poor, with little children,
With suffering bodies and minds,
We are not free.
Unless we are bound to life, to faith, to love,
We are not free.
Unless we are chained to the most human Christ, and run the risk of an accepting God
We are not free…by David A Murden
Simon’s Africa Trip Notes - February 2005 (Verbatim)
Biggest percentage of our world are cynical and untrusting, they doubt other's motivations. They think we live, then we die and that is all there is. They therefore go for the best possible quality of life they can attain.
How can one change the way people think when they are born into such a world. Their parents who they are supposed to trust don't seem to give a care about anyone else. What can you say to someone like this to make them believe what you are doing isn't for your own personal gain in someway: Whether it's riches, respect, a golden ticket to heaven, ripping others off, making yourself feel better than anyone else, justifying some bad thing that has happened to you, attracting sympathy from the opposite sex. But, People are already rich with the Sun, the Moon and the Stars and all the world's resources and yet often don't know it…To really appreciate these things they need to be leading a certain quality of life by whatever means available to them.
The mentality of the people who brought the first slave ships over is still with us and apparent today. It depends on whether the man believes there is an after life or not. When one man believes another man is lesser than himself he will try to dominate them through brute force or superior intelligence. Usually things will boil down to a Catch 22 situation. For instance, in order to help with the poor in this world, whether they are poor in intelligence, money, possessions, culture, physical beauty, or where you were born, not everyone will help to make this world one, a better place or more equal for our children. There are very few like this especially in the West who have everything already and who have too many distractions. These are TV, Video Films, Computer Games, Magazines, Booze n Drugs, Sex on the Internet or other mediums which pervert men's minds and teach them not to trust each or because the other's woman is better looking than his own!
Because people with a lot of money get these things and attract what they think is very beautiful they are the most mistrusting of all. So the ones with money are the ones with power and the ones with power control us and what we are supposed to think. They think we are inferior because of not having these things when it is obvious we are all the same: 2 eyes, 2 ears, 1 brain, one world and so on.
Because of this problem there can never be equality between until we reach this truth…like Bob Marley said which sums up these observations:
Until there are no longer first class or second class citizens of any nation
Until the colour of a man's skin is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes,
that until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race:
Until that day the dream of lasting peace and World Citizenship and the rule of an International morality will remain but a fleeting illusion to be pursued but never attained.
As well as all this the barriers between men are widened by them saying they have the truth, they know the truths of the world and that what they believe is fact. This builds a wall between them. Thus religion and fixed beliefs creates more division. The man who admits he does not know anything about the world very much or why we are here will dislike the other man for saying he really knows.
Thus division is created between them and between religions.
In most cases when a man gets a lot of money he creates his own prison by mistrusting the people who seem to like him especially if he is a weak character in the first place. He becomes lonely, never freeing his mind of this bondage. But the poor do not have this problem and live ultimately a better and more fulfilling way of life. The one-ness they create by having nothing but themselves is a better more satisfying feeling than any amount of money or possessions can offer.
Holding man down in these ways and mostly through fear of loss keeps them from speaking out about those things which create the fear. Only a few therefore attain a clarity of mind and a purity of body by abstaining from the temptations of the pleasures man has created for himself. Today these are shown in the porn and perversions which make sex more important than love for example.
All of this produces a constant vicious cycle which keeps people having a poor quality of life which they want to take out on others. This then all snowballs out of control which is why wars will never be a thing of the past.
For to give you rest, panting travellers, In the desert of time God has placed Oases, Cemeteries where you can lie down and sleep - Theophile (lover of God) Gautier 1811-1872
"Desiderata" … Simon liked this!
Go placidly amid the noise and haste and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible be on good terms with all persons. Speak the truth quietly and clearly and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story. However avoid loud and aggressive persons: they are vexatious to your spirit.
If you compare yourself with others you may become vain and bitter for there will always be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements, as well as your plans. Keep interested in your career, however humble: it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is. Many persons strive for high ideals and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection neither be cynical about love, for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune but do not distress yourself with imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the Universe, no less than the trees and stars.
You have a right to be here. Whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the Universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God, whoever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labours and aspirations in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace with your soul. With all its sham and drudgery and broken dreams it is still a beautiful world. Take care. Strive to be happy.
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out where the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumphs of high achievement; and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly: so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know defeat or victory.
Makes You Think … a few facts about the world
If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look something like the following. There would be:
- 57 Asians
- 21 Europeans
- 14 from the Western Hemisphere, both north and south
- 8 Africans
- 52 would be female
- 48 would be male
- 70 would be non-white
- 30 would be white
- 70 would be non-Christian
- 30 would be Christian
- 89 would be heterosexual
- 11 would be homosexual
- 6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth and all 6 would be from the United States.
- 80 would live in substandard housing
- 70 would be unable to read
- 50 would suffer from malnutrition
- 1 would be near death; 1 would be near birth
- 1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education
- 1 would own a computer
- When one considers our world from such a compressed perspective, the need for acceptance, understanding and education becomes glaringly apparent.
- If you woke up this morning with more health than illness...you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week. If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation...
You are ahead of 500 million people in the world. - If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death...
You are more blessed than three billion people in the world. - If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep...
You are richer than 75% of this world. - If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish some place...
You are among the top 8% of the world's wealthy. - If your parents are still alive and still married ...
You are very rare, even in the United States and Canada. - If you can read this message, you just received a double blessing in that someone was thinking of you, and further more, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world that can not read at all.
Those who live nobly, even if in their day they live obscurely, need not fear that they will have lived in vain. Something radiates from their lives, some light that shows it's way to their friends, their neighbours - perhaps to long future ages - Bertrand Russell
If you would like to find out more about the Projects in Africa that Simon was passionate about, visit the And Albert website or simply send us an email to davidmurden@africalandstrust.org.