The Cleansing Light of Orange Sky #WATWB July

ORANGE SKY 

Welcome to another month of  We Are the World #WATWB Blogfest.

Cohosts this month are: Sylvia Stein, Roshan Radhakrishnan, Inderpreet Kaur Uppal, Damyanti Biswas and myself.  I want to thank them and ask you to check out their posts too.

The day I found out about The Sydney Story Factory I also discovered the story of Orange Sky on this clip.  They have been in the Aussie news again recently because of a wonderful thing – they are growing. They are even in Canberra, the nearest capital to my part of the world.

 

Who or what are Orange Sky?  They are people who do laundry – wash and dry clothes – for people who live on the streets.  

First they did the washing.  

Then they made friends.  

Friends with street-people, with business people, the civic minded and anyone who is moved by their work.

If you are a blog tragic, check out their blog here.  Here is a smidgen from the blog

“With nothing more than the clothes on their backs, $10 in their pockets and their cell phones, Nic Marchesi and Nich Kristock of Orange Sky Laundry recently spent two nights living on the streets of Sydney. Having never experienced homelessness personally, the goal of this unusual exercise was for the pair to gain a greater understanding of what it actually feels like to be homeless and to challenge some of the stereotypes which surround this vastly complex topic.

NK: “I guess you can’t ever fully understand what it’s like to be homeless if you’re just doing it for a few days, but I would like to get a better understanding of what it means to really feel that disconnect from people that are walking right next to you. Even though you’re both just people, there’s still that feeling of inferiority when you know you don’t have a home to go to. I want to understand better what it’s like to feel that way, so I can have a better conversation with a homeless friend.”

 

 

---

Looking for some stories of hope!

Please SIGN UP for WE ARE THE WORLD BLOGFEST in the linky list below:

Powered by Linky Tools

Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list…

~~~GUIDELINES~~~

1.  Keep your post to below 500 words, as much as possible.
2. All we ask is you link to a human news story on your blog on the last Friday of each month, one that shows love, humanity, and brotherhood. Something like this news, about a man who only fosters terminally ill children.
3. Join us on the last Friday of each month in sharing news that warms the cockles of our heart. No story is too big or small, as long as it goes beyond religion and politics, into the core of humanity.
4. Place the WE ARE THE WORLD Badge on your sidebar, and help us spread the word on social media. Tweets, Facebook shares, G+ shares using the #WATWB hashtag through the month most welcome. More Blogfest signups mean more friends, love and light for all of us.
5. We’ll read and comment on each others’ posts, get to know each other better, and hopefully, make or renew some friendships with everyone who signs on as participants in the coming months.
6. To signup, add your link in WE ARE THE WORLD Linky List here.

CO-HOSTS. 

As many of you know, keeping a blogfest going needs a pool of positive co-hosts.  We started with 20.  But, with the wear and tear of life on people’s health, we need some assistance with co-hosting.  As Damyanti says:

…five co-hosts leading each month will ensure that none of us are overburdened, and can host every few months. 

Each month needs a minimum of 5 leads, but you’re welcome to sign up for more as well. We’ll keep it flexible— if you have an issue hosting in a particular month, you could exchange with another co-host.

Can you help?  Contact Damyanti on – atozstories at gmail dot com.

 

 

Advertisement

We Are Still Warmly Welcoming #WATWB

We warmly welcome

Anyone with good news on

The last Friday of each month to

Write a

Blog with us.

 

Cohosts this month are: Sylvia Stein, Roshan Radhakrishnan, Inderpreet Kaur Uppal, Damyanti Biswas and myself.

Want to spread more cheer with other great writers. Check out our We Are The World Blogfest  and its  Facebook Page .  You only have to write 500 words of good news and can add in links to the website or video clip for that news. If you are ready to sign up here is the linky list.

Want to make your post easier for readers to find and tag?

Add #WATWB to the blog title.

Thanks so much! 🙂

We Tread Heavily Upon The Earth

We Tread Heavily Upon The Earth
After having frightened birds in a field.

 

We tread heavily

Upon the earth

[and asphalt, concrete or

whatever we construct

To hide our feet

From natures touch].

And

Our footfalls frighten

Fauna

In our wake.

We mistake

Our smallness

Of size

Among many creatures,

For insignificant impact.

How wrong we are.

Our lands, skies, seas

Bear the scars,

Of our excesses.

And, in the recesses

Of our overactive brains,

There are gains,

When we become

More aware,

Of where

We fit

In the cosmos.

Yes,

We have

A place,

But it is not ours

To erase

The good entrusted to our care.

For we are here

To share.

And

To leave

This place

Better

For us

Having been

There.

Simon C.J. Falk 15 July 2017
………………………………………………..

Want to help the world be the better for us having been here.  We Are The World Blogfest posts on the final Friday of each month.  More about it here.

A Walk in #MartinPlace Remembering #LindtCafe

A Walk in Martin Place Remembering Lindt Cafe
As I walked

And looked,

Upon the rain-wet

Surfaces,

Of Martin Place,

A glow in me

Mirrored

The sheen of light

Upon

The scene.

Martin Place:

Monument of memories.

Dandy dashers

Grasp a quick bouquet,

To take to lovers

On the way

To romance.

Others snatch,

A printed read 

Of newspapers,

For a daily feed.

Military men

Women,

And their beloved,

Stand in sentinel,

Reminiscent

Of standing guard

Over national security.

Monument

To bustling business

And busy-ness,

To commerce,

To remembrance of war.

But, there is more

To tell.

As, remember well,

We do.

Don’t you?

That other war,

That breaks out

Like a pesky rash

In unwanted places,

Afflicting us where

We expect not.

It broke out,

Up the way,

At our much loved

Lindt Cafe.

We remember 

The footage:

Journos palpably posed

And poised

Before the plight

Of those held within,

And of their loved ones,

Held hostage too,

By their powerless worries.

We return and remember,

Now in greater peace,

And release

From that torment.

The Lindt Cafe

Is a welcome sight again.

A place to go when

On one level, we enjoy 

Hospitality.

And, on another,

Lift our cup

For sacrifice,

In service

Of liberty.

We recall the fallen,

Their grieved families,

As we walk on,

Grateful

To be free.
Simon C.J. Falk 15 July 2017
……………………..

We Are The World Blogfest posts good news stories on the final Friday of each month.  More here.

Night Sounds

​

                                                                                                             Night Sounds

                                                                                                              Night sounds
                                                                                                                     Fill the air.
                                                                                                                           Dogs and insects and cars
                                                                                                                                       Are there.
                                                                                                                Loud it is.
                                                                                                                        On and on.
                                                                                                                               Serenading us
                                                                                                                                         With their habitual song.
                                                                                                                  They invite us
                                                                                                                         To stop – 
                                                                                                                               And to
                                                                                                                                       Listen on.

Simon C.J Falk 15 July 2017

 

Thirty Years On And Memory Still Strong

This month marks thirty years since my brother, Joseph, died by suicide. Each year it is sad in its own way. But how that sense of loss is felt can never be predicted from year to year.  Joseph and I both had an avid interest in literature. Some of you would be aware of a post I made in a Cherished Blogfest that featured a special handwritten list by Joseph.  In that list he recommended authors to me.  Incidentally, if you are interested in Cherished 2017, even just a little bit, hop on over to the blogs of Damyanti at Daily (W)Rite and Dan at No Facilities. They can fill you in.  Anyhow, back to Joseph’s list.  One of the authors he mentioned was Robert Louis Stevenson. By way of tribute to both Joseph and R.L.S., I post one of Stevenson’s poems, pictured above.  My brother and mother introduced Stevenson to me, via Treasure Island, of course! Stevenson’s poem speaks to me of adventures he had written, of lives of many who have used this epitaph, and it has touched some of our loved ones dearly.  Also, being in the form of a poetic epitaph, it makes a fitting remembrance to Joseph, a lover of literature.

The copy of the poem comes from a very old book, scavenged from a secondhand bookshop somewhere (we don’t recall exactly). It was published by T.C & E.C. Jack Ltd. of London and Edinburgh, way back in 1917.

Simon C.J. Falk 13 July 2017

 

==========================

Check out the We Are the World Blogfest by following #WATWB. We post good news stories on the final Fridays of each month. Info on it can be found here.

Lift Off To Flight

Lift Off To Flight
Whirr, whirr,

Rolling, rolling,

Faster and faster,

And up,

We lift.

Borne from the runway,

To climb and climb,

In time,

Through space,

At increasing pace,

To soar,

Above

The clouds,

And fields and flocks,

And rivers until

Sea and docks emerge

Below.

Then we know

The signal 

For descent.

But, Oh!

The joy

To fly free

Aloft and borne

In majesty.

Simon C.J. Falk 4 July 2017
—————————————————
Looking for some stories of hope!
Please SIGN UP for WE ARE THE WORLD BLOGFEST in the linky list below:
Powered by Linky Tools
Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list…
~~~GUIDELINES~~~
Keep your post to below 500 words, as much as possible.

All we ask is you link to a human news story on your blog on the last Friday of each month, one that shows love, humanity, and brotherhood. Something like this news, about a man who only fosters terminally ill children.

Join us on the last Friday of each month in sharing news that warms the cockles of our heart. No story is too big or small, as long as it goes beyond religion and politics, into the core of humanity.

Place the WE ARE THE WORLD Badge on your sidebar, and help us spread the word on social media. Tweets, Facebook shares, G+ shares using the #WATWB hashtag through the month most welcome. More Blogfest signups mean more friends, love and light for all of us.

We’ll read and comment on each others’ posts, get to know each other better, and hopefully, make or renew some friendships with everyone who signs on as participants in the coming months.

To signup, add your link in WE ARE THE WORLD Linky List here.