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Deb Strafuss

Deb Strafuss

Politics

Democracy, not theocracy

by Deb Strafuss March 22, 2011

Eeny, meeny, miny, mo….

Which way now does Egypt go?

So many choices, options glow

with promises gleaming,

Now they’re free to pick a  prize

Which sparkly one before their eyes

Seems really really really nice…..

Only a clear, deliberate plan will keep this country moving toward its goal of freedom and self expression.

There are way too many sparkly, enticing ideas and options to try out along the way, temptations to put one group in charge, take charge where things are lax,  let the people go home

The real work happens now. What idea rules a country?

What is the vision. How is it accomplished?

The world has not suffered much success with forms of theocracy. Unfortunately for human nature, when we get all worked up about an idea we tend to become exclusive, close minded and arbitrary – none of which leads to good governing. People are either suppressed or freed. Religions by definition demand ideological allegiance. Belief. A dictatorship of ideas. Democracies demand personal responsibility.  Belief systems put rules in place, fostering resistance and oppression. Democracy creates a forum for many voices and the need to resolve differences peacefully. Within the bounds of democracy, many beliefs can flourish. Within the bounds of a religious group, time and again, only one belief is tolerated.

Democracy, or theocracy….

Which will the choice be……

March 22, 2011 0 comments
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NaturePolitics

On Japan and the Gulf Spill and other Catastrophes and Global Events…

by Deb Strafuss March 18, 2011
Springs of Weeping…..

Green and seeping
Blood from the earth springs true
Oozing and leaking, gushing and bursting
Pushing and slipping through
All the cracks in time
Of containments refined
By the limited sight of the blind 
How powerless really are we
No matter what might we seem
To hold
Shaking and waving our hands
Like ancient warrior bands
We troop through the world unknown
In jungles of forces and powers
Surrounded by gales of thunderous tales
And energies we cannot harness
Affrighted each time they arise
And expose our limited eye
Push us effortlessly aside to die
Like bugs on a rotting tree…
Until we can assume our place
As part, not ruler, of this space
Each time they speak, pour out release
We will be chased away…
Somehow, in the turnings of spring we find – great joy and sorrow combined. Mother Nature in some agony of birth aborts us off the ground and reminds us of our place and power – that we walk the surface of her bower, understanding from a limited view, the sky, earth, sea, and where we’re going to. An exercise in humility, reminding us once again of the great powers we live in and among and around. Inspiring fear and awe and wonder at the universe in which we are bound.
Obviously, I cannot speak without giving you poetry, but I trust you have heard my words – and better yet, their spirit.
Weep with me over the pain of the earth, weep with me over the pain of our losses and the horror of realizing our insignificance.
Joy with me over the wonders of what we can accomplish working together.
Intend with me that we learn and gain from the costs paid for us by others….
And keep a watchful heart upon the peoples and earth of Japan.
March 18, 2011 0 comments
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Nature

Green!

by Deb Strafuss March 17, 2011

 

Beauty! Joy!
glorious thing!
didn’t wait
peeked through the snow
and wants to grow!
 
  

Half my yard still blanket-wrapped
half uncovered shows
its love for life and sky of blue
the sun has warmth – it all feels new!

Oh Joy! Once more – again – is seen
The joy of Brown becoming Green!
 Green3

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day – as we remember the saint revered for bringing “new life” to Ireland, so the celebration of this life heralds the spring solstice, the bringing of new life to a winter weary world needful of its own waking. With the leprechauns of love and hope and impish fun sprinkling the earth with drops of life begun, we will dance a spring of newness too, filled with life and touched with dew.

March 17, 2011 0 comments
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Strength
People

Amazing Ab Woman….

by Deb Strafuss March 14, 2011
If I go to the gym early enough…
She is there
Working her abs till the sweat drips off her back.
Where does she come from?
Where does she go?
These are things I may never know

But whenever she’s here
she inspires, it’s clear
I wince and I scrunch
to see her crunch
every ab until it’s defined

I admire her strength – her perseverance more
That she pushes herself beyond what is there
doesn’t flinch, doesn’t stop
Inspiring me to count the cost
and pay it.

Sunlight

I am inspired to honor amazing everyday women this month. They are all around us all the time, in many little ways. Take some time to look at yourself – you may be amazed at who you find, hiding behind the stuff of your ordinary self. A person of courage and strength, hope, dignity and care, intelligent, creative – be all that you can be, let yourself out and share. The rest of us can only be enriched by the gifts that you dare!

March 14, 2011 1 comment
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PeoplePolitics

Aung San Suu Kyi

by Deb Strafuss March 8, 2011

It is National Women’s History Month

I did not even know one existed until I was asked to participate

Here I honor not women who have made history, but women who are making history.

Nationally – internationally – those who live for it, and those who have died for it. The political leaders of countries we would count  as less feministically advanced than us, yet whose heroes are female political leaders who have sacrificed their families and their lives for their countries…

Aung San Suu Kyi – you will not hear as much about her as you will Nelson Mandela

Yet she has paid her nation’s price in 18 years of imprisonment, separated from her two sons and husband, to stand for democracy and freedom in Burma

Why is democracy and freedom in Burma of any importance to us snuggled here in the states??

Because what enlarges one enlarges the world, and what diminishes one, diminishes the world.

Whether we know it or not, feel it or not, see it or not, believe it or not….

We are connected…………………….

Here’s to the courage of woman – as brave and as strong and as free

as any of man that would see or be

spirit is the same

it knows not face or name

nor race

nor sex

nor anything in between

It simply is what it seems

March 8, 2011 0 comments
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Nature

March Winds

by Deb Strafuss March 1, 2011
 
                                                
 
 
Lampost in snow

Signs of Spring                                                       
Buddha’s head peeks out at me
from “oer receding snows
It’s warm, yet a cold wind blows

The frozen signs of Christmas
lost to banks of January storms
are readable, not reachable,
anachronistic symbols
of time out worn.

El Nina blows across the snows
a devil in her fury
picking up the melting frost
hurling it aloft
storm-tossed she moves the moisture on
to other climes…  

March 1, 2011 0 comments
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Politics

Celebration and Deliberation

by Deb Strafuss February 12, 2011

Joy, celebration, and the clear after effects of revolution.

What are we building…?

Where are we going?

What is our next course…

The consequences of victory are:

A new Beginning.

Once again, we watch, wait, hope and stand with the Egyptian people as they move to deliberation, formation and re-construction.

This people have taken back their power, proving once again, that expression, not oppression, is the key to governance. Every where in the world, and to the degree that it is restricted or denied, self expression pushes back. A people must be free to express their diversity. Strength and survival rely upon our ability to create and innovate. When those energies are restricted, a time bomb is in place. The human spirit must express and create, or its energies will turn to hate….

Continue Reading
February 12, 2011 0 comments
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PeoplePolitics

Cry of the people

by Deb Strafuss February 11, 2011

It is so hard, from such a distance and from the outside, to see or judge clearly – to make gray areas black and white – yet the voice of the people raised in Egypt reminds me of one raised many thousands of years ago in the same place by the Hebrew people enslaved there….”Let my People Go”…

Are we standing on the edge of witnessing, once again, the profound power of the people to claim their freedom? Will we see a

Continue Reading
February 11, 2011 0 comments
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Nature

Sunrise

by Deb Strafuss February 10, 2011

Once more the Sun does Rise

                      Golden are the Skies

  Beauty does Arise  

                   Catches us by Surprise….

Every morning I drive to work…..there is traffic, news, last minute must-dos, a mind full of thoughts, reactions and plans

Fortunately, there is one last curve before the last corner before the parking lot.

Every morning the sun rises over the pond, the trees stand guard over the dawn, and I know that beauty is here, around me everywhere, if I will just look up and bring my mind to gaze, occasionally, at where I am as I go.

February 10, 2011 0 comments
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Spiritual

Icy Reflections…

by Deb Strafuss February 7, 2011

Ice-laced, morning chased

frozen thoughts are raised

reaching to the cold gray sky

asking questions –  how and why

Frozen – – in a solemn grip

a single snowflake falls

silently we watch and wait

while a stark earth calls

Unable, unwilling, unspoken

to respond

unknowing, uncaring, not there –

we go on…

Never quite, in our sight

clearly seeing what we’ve done;

where we’ve gone…

Some mornings I rise with joys, others with questions and cold. I seem to read the earth message – search for it – as I rise. Fast frozen  in this chrysalis of winter – now is the time to let those questions out into the depths  of a cold sleeping world, from a frozen heart.  Let them go. Breathe them out. Do not worry how they sound or what they mean.  They fall upon the snow-topped frozen earth and wait – like us – for spring.  Go about your day. Lose yourself in the concretes of must-dos….those questions lie like burning seeds upon the frame of time.  Given, they will rebirth, and visit you with surprise, when time responds and we have ears …

February 7, 2011 1 comment
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Deborah Lynn Strafuss

Deborah Lynn Strafuss

A Lyrical Poet & Writer

Deborah Lynn shares her love of life, nature and spirit with you here. A published author, Reiki Master Teacher and Spiritual Life Coach, she offers gentle healing sessions and transformative life work in addition to her writing. Find her at Crystal Reiki Energy and On Angel's Wings

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