Monica Engebretson's Page

These Are My Wishes For You


May you find serenity and tranquility in a world you may not always understand.
May the pain you have known and the conflict you have experienced give you the strength to walk through life facing each new situation with courage and optimism.
Always know that there are those whose love and understanding will always be there, even when you feel most alone.
May a kind word, a reassuring touch, and a warm smile be yours every day of your life, and may you give these gifts as well as receive them.
May the teachings of those you admire become part of you,
so that you may call upon them.
Remember, those whose lives you have touched and who have touched yours are always a part of you, even if the encounters were less than you would have wished. It is the content of the encounter that is more important than its form.
May you not become too concerned with material matters, but instead place immeasurable value on the goodness in your heart. Find time in each day to see beauty and love in the world around you.
Realize that what you feel you lack in one regard you may be more than compensated for in another. What you feel you lack in the present may become
one of your strengths in the future.

May you see your future as one filled with promise and possibility. Learn to view everything as a worthwhile experience.
May you find enough inner strength to determine your own worth by yourself,
and not be dependent on another's judgment of your accomplishments.
May you always feel loved.

~ Author - Sandra Sturtz Hauss ~

Twilight and Dawn
Rene Wadlow*

The alternation of night and day is a cosmic process of which humans have been long aware and which has led to dualistic thinking: day and night, light and dark, right and wrong, pure and impure. However, during this alternation of night and day, there are two periods of transition — twilight as the day fades and night comes on, and dawn as night is replaced by the rays of the coming sun. During these periods of transition, shapes are less clear. Twilight may also resemble dawn, and it is not clear from the color of the sky if the day is fading or growing.

So too, in the study of international society and world politics, it is not always clear if we are moving toward greater night or clearer day. For our efforts to be most effective, we need to have some understanding of where we are in the cosmic process, if it is time to get more fuel for our lamps because night is coming on or if we can start putting away our lamps because day will soon be here. In this period with strong shadows and unclear shapes, we must be particularly careful in our evaluations of events and currents.

Around the world today, numerous communities face an immediate future of intense violence and social upheaval. The Congo, East Timor, Israel-Palestine, Kashmir, the Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Tibet are examples amongst many others. In zones of chronic tensions, politics characteristically lurch back and forth from hope to despair to hope to despair. Peace talks, road maps and new elections descend into the daily hell of missiles, armoured vehicles and suicide-martyrs — and the new maps are drawn again.

We see among the shadows a world of base calculations, of power plays, of special interests working for national advantage and overlooking global responsibilities. In the confusion of today’s economic situation when only short-term profit and consumption mattered, we see jobs lost, homes lost, medical and educational facilities cut back or closed. Through financial misdoings, avarice and corruption, we are compromising our future and that of our children. We see a world where we have reached critical limits on pollution, on fossil-fuel extraction, on endangered species, on climate change.

To meet these challenges, often the result of limited visions and short-term political calculations, we need a strong, values-based United Nations, and we need ethical and future-oriented Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs).

The United Nations has taken unprecedented steps to focus the world’s urgent attention on the need to protect nature and to encourage ecologically-sound development. The UN has held major environmental conferences such as those of Stockholm (1972), Rio (1992), Johannesburg (2002) and the climate conference planned for Copenhagen in December 2009.

NGOs have responded to these challenges. They work year round to reverse the deterioration of nature’s plant life, water quality, forest cover, mountain ecosystems and marine resources. They combat atmospheric pollution, desertification and chemical hazards.

NGOs are active in defending and promoting human rights, in assisting refugees, internally displaced persons and migrants, in running medical, educational and vocational-training institutions, in overcoming patriarchal obstacles to women’s empowerment, in healing children, and in giving youth a voice in determining the future. NGOs are helping people redefine themselves from victims into partners for a new world society.

Where social welfare is lacking, where social justice is lacking, there you will find NGOs ready to take a lead, to take responsibility, to take action.

There is a need for NGO leadership and cooperation, for adequate funding and the sharing of information as to new needs and new opportunities. With such leadership and cooperation, we will not mistake the dawn for the twilight.

*Rene Wadlow, Representative to the UN, Geneva, Association of World Citizens

Hello, Monica!
I just wanted to stop by and see how you are doing.
Hello to your kitty cat, too.
LeslieAnn

That's fantastic! Tell me more. Am going to do a tour to Papua this October -- would just love to reconnect with you. How's the family?

Really want to get the hot air balloon ride yet it's a hike from here...

Hello, do you know of anyone hiring for Administrative Assistant? I know Quickbooks and have excellent Excel/Word skills. : )

No, no official sanctuary, though I go to Mollywood & volunteer time, whatever they need done. I'm assisting a friend who is ill & sheltering there. He has 2 M2s, a U2, a LSC2 and a Cape parrot/Jardines mix. When my friend is away, I come stay @ his house, take care of every birdie & his home, etc.

Since his illness & I've been there full-time, I'm sure you can imagine all of the 'toos are elated that "Auntie" is around most of the time.

I had(have) my own flock - Angel U2, Cleo-Patrick hybrid caique & Chile' M2. I had to enter treatment for alcoholism 15 months ago - My guys went into foster homes though I'm doing everything I can to get us all back together again.

I an an animal person - not an animal lover, to me, there is a huge difference - and have been caring/stewarding many types of animals since I was a child. I 'talk' to them, they talk back and we all get along just swimmingly - unless my human frailties get in the way.

Onward & upward - I know this is pretty personal stuff though I figure that If you're here @ Architects, it won't be a huge deal.
Keep the Faith, Light & Harmony~