From Gangland to Promised Land

Mr. John Pridmore's flabbergasting speech at the Wandsworth prison, where I work as a volunteer in the Catholic chaplaincy, was a bold reminder to the inmates that God loves us as we are. He spoke with lot of conviction that Jesus is the healer who loved him through out his life but he went on to say how he failed to recognize this love. Parents divorce at the age of 11 shattered him completely and went out to find meaning in life but taking a path of Gangster which ruined him to some extent until at last he realized there was emptiness and a strong sense of fear in his heart despite being a powerful gangster both in the US and in London.

As he was going his way as a gangster he was told to attend a catholic retreat which transformed his life completely. Now he was a new person who was once looking for meaning in life out there committing crime became a disciple of Jesus and this resonated in his address to the packed prisoners at the prison chapel. He also spoke of the importance of the Mass and the confessions. Confessions is the another significant life changing event in his life. He spoke to a catholic priest for an hour and he felt how sorrowful and how sinful he was. This sorrow of sin wrapped his life with fear and insecurity. Confessions did change his life and his lifestyle.

His story about the chicken and golden eagle mesmerised the spectators completely. Golden eagle is supposed to fly high in the beautiful blue sky but it remained as chicken pecking the dirt down below. In the same way Jesus created us to be somebody but often we tend not to choose this somebody and this will see our demise. He convinced the inmates that they all can be golden eagles, but they have to decide, no outside persons can decide for them.

John Pridmore is the author of best selling book 'from gangland to promised land' is absolutely a masterpiece of his own life story. I was thrilled to read the story of his life which of course scary and hard to read indeed. His second book 'A GANGSTERS GUIDE TO GOD' is also in the market. He is goes around the world as envoy of Jesus to spread the kingdom of God and try to inspire the prisoners around the world to change their life style as he himself has done.

I think this is indeed an excellent act of charity. As Jesus said 'you visited me in the prison', 'I have come to set free the prisoners', may his work of charity and compassion to the inmates might yield much more fruits. I wish him all the very best in your mission to bring good news and God's kingdom on earth.
http://www.johnpridmore.com/

Companions working hand in hand

Companions programme is indeed a wonderful activity of Jesuit Missions. It ventures into unknown keeping the Jesuit charisma of venturing into the unknown. The main mission of the programme is to help the poorer and less privileged children of the developing countries like India, Guyana, Africa and so on as told by Ashleigh Callow of Jesuit missions. I was thrilled to hear that Ursuline girls school at Wimbledon like to work along with a school somewhere in the unknown place called Aishalton in Guyana. I was thrilled because I taught in that school which basically caters to the Indigenous people of Guyana. I had an opportunity to speak to the pupils at Ursuline school about the situation and my experience at this school. This school is unheard of by the pupils here in London for that matter even Guyana is somewhat unheard of to many people.

I enjoyed talking to the children at Ursuline. They were obviously happy to hear me speak because they must had a change from their usual routine school stuff. Apart from that, they were certainly inspired by the school in Aishalton. They like to work along this school and they have started their work already, by exchanging letters. Even exchanging letters might take ages since access to Aishalton School is very slim. I am sure despite this their work will progress considerably because I know the pupils both here in London as well as in Aishalton. They both are absolutely incredible.

I wish both the school all well, and may the work began continue to yield plenty more fruits.

Domestic Industries are in Jeopardy

Obama signed a new trade deal with India announcing nearly $10 billions business deal which will include lot of Boeing Jet planes. This is considered to be a great deal by many top Indian business people. He addressed them in Mumbai and encouraged to support the deal. Obama also passingly mentioned about the domestic industries. Domestic small scale industries will be in jeopardy but Obama assured it is not the case, rather it will boost the Indian economy as a whole. Many of the people have welcomed the trade deal but I am not too sure whether the people in the village know anything about it, in any case many think what is the matter, it does not affect the poor people in the hinterland of India.
Let us try to analyse the situation of India and the new deal together. Indian economy is growing according to the West. I am very proud to be in Europe and hear people say, oh India is rich. But if I go to the grass root of the problem, it is a perpetual problem for several years where Rich get richer and poor get poorer. How do you compromise this two extremes? Sharing of wealth is a distant dream for us Indians. I am not denying the good will of those people who share their wealth with the less privileged.
Enormous amount of money is being pumped into the budget every year by the government, but irony is money does not reach the needful. When money comes down the lane, it has many tributaries to distribute, and at last when it reaches the real need it just a pittance.
Obama's new trade deal means more American market in India. Americanization of India. I am not too sure about the domestic industries and their fate. Some years ago when Mc.donald's came to Pune, the petty pani puri and vada pav shops were moved to the fringe of the city. They virtually had to abandon their petty trade and business. Poor little business people had to find something for their survival. Therefore I am sure you can see the problem here. It is just a tip of the iceberg I am trying to present but there is lot going on in the business world. Let us try to open our eyes and see what is going on around us and if possible try to sympathize with the people who are likely to get affected by the multi international firms invading our sacred business world.

Evil Power or Good Power powerful

There is so much evil in the world, but how do we understand Evil. Is it only a concept or reality? Evil is the absence of Good, as many philosopher would say. But evil can be a mere concept for several people and for other several people it can be a reality. The evil power is so strong in the world today, which at times triumphs and fragile humans do succumb to it with or without being aware of its consequences. Evil can be very deceptive and bewitch us to a large extent. It can come as a consolation but how do we distinguish whether it is evil when it comes in the form of a good.
If the power of evil is so strong, don't you think that the power of good can be greater than evil. Indeed yes, the power of good is much more powerful than the evil. We all humans have two conflicting forces, drives or virtues in us, and they innate. The two forces decide our fate in most cases. Discernment of the best possible virtue can be a tedious task as we are fragile homo sapiens. Most of the time good virtue in us does speak for us and give us best results and not only to us but best results to others too. Sometimes the so called evil virtue(as I call it) might dominate and come out with flashy suggestions which might ultimately devour us and those around us.
Choosing between these two options can be very painful task. We 'cannot love two masters'. Either this or that. There is no middle path (Buddha). Either or plays a significant role in each one's life. This painful state might lead us into depression. How do we try to choose without any pain for oneself and others?

God of equality

Birthday is the reminder from God that God still loves the world. Every new born child is the gift from God. God is so transcendental he cannot show us himself or we cannot see him as he is but he makes himself visible through several ways that we as weak humans can understand and grasp that visibility of Him. How nice of God to do that? It is absolutely remarkable act of God, that is why Jesus washed the feet of his disciples to make them understand that no one is superior to others. Son of man can do such and noble act why can't we do it. It is a pretty gigantic challenge for all us who are growing in this capitalistic society where each one fills his or her own barn even at the cost of other. Tremendous amount of pressure is built in each humans as we are born in this universe. Race plays a significant role in our lives. Race to be the first in the class, in business, in computers, sports, in almost everything. This indeed cripples us to some extent even though we might get a momentary success in our struggle to attain this race.
God reminds us not to be master or dominate our neighbours, as he said rightly, those who are fist will be last and who are last will be first, we have a responsibility as belonging to one human family to support and help each other even at the cost of our own self. It is hard to give 5 bocks to a beggar when I need to buy an itune gift card for my girlfriend. It is hard to give sometime for someone who has lost his/her mom when I have a long awaited appointment to have point to lager at the pub.
We can make difference if we start doing it. I am sure there are many people out there who think like me but when it comes to action it can be really challenging. Thus it is our disposition that lead us to an action which emerges from our inner motivation (attitude). We all are God's children and we ought to be like God's children. Children of love, peace and generosity. Let us try to make visible this to our fellow neighbour.

Thinking to think

Umpteen times we think with our mind but sometimes we think from our heart and even our body. As humans its natural to forget what we think, therefore this blog would help us to remember the thinking we think and share and co relate with the thinking of our fellow humans in and around us.
The great virtue that the humans acquire is thinking, here I am not saying that animals don't think. I suppose we all are capable of thinking in our mind. If one thinks that he or she cannot think than he is not in his mind, even one who is not in his mind could think. When we cross the road in a busy traffic signal we think and look around us so that we are not knocked by some vehicles.
Each human thinks in different wave length. One might assume that he or she thinks better than others, but according to me there no better and least thinking. I make only two differences in thinking, that is empirical and non empirical thinking. For instance, if there is a snake crawling in the woods, a child might think it is a rope, but a fully grown makes the difference between a rope and a snake.
Let us explore our mind with an open and critical mind. I will be discussing in this blog several aspects of human day to day life. I wish this blog would be mile stone in thinking with the people whether they are so called thinkers and so called ordinary thinkers like me. Be a part of this thinking and discussion.

Bonfire

Boredom can eat you away, was my feeling after the long hours of lecture. As all humans I needed something to ease away my boredom. One of my classmates suggested some practical device to do away with my boredom. He said today is the bonfire day in London. I was absolutely amazed about the thought of bonfire in the torrential rain that was showering from above. We engrossed ourselves in discussion about the bonfire in order to avoid boredom and the rain. I suggested to him about the festival of light Divali being celebrated with sky full of fireworks, but his reply was different. The bonfire in London is a commemoration of Gun powder plot. It is also called Guy Fawkes night. It was when Catholics decided to blow off the parliament for whatever reason, but fortunately they failed to so. Therefore the country celebrates the failure of gun powder plot. It is nothing to do with Diwali but of course for us Indians it does make sense when Guy Fawkes night and diwali falls on the same night.
With thought in mind I put my hood on head and walked quickly to the banks of river Thames to see sky full of fireworks and unfortunately to my bad luck I saw only bare, wet and cloudy sky. They (whoever arranges) decided to cancel because of the down pouring rain, fair enough. Walked around along the river dodging the visitors to take a pleasant walk but failed to do so because of the constant flash of the camera penetrated the retina of my eyes which blinded me. This all happened in the time where I wanted my boredom to turn into joy and happiness. In any case I did feel happy looking at the people who were absolutely amazed to see London eye, Westminster parliament and other attraction at the spot.
Everything happens for the good, and don't be prepared for anything, even if you prepare, prepare for the worse and when it does happen you are not disappointed. This world is full of uncertainties, but it is left to you and me as to how we make certain of the uncertainties around us. World in absolute flux.