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Hi everyone:

I am not sure how many of you are aware that I have a history of doing benefits for a soup kitchen that feeds homeless people. It's located in Trenton, New Jersey. This started several years ago. All the proceeds from my lecture go to purchase food products which, in turn, become meals. To date, thousands of meals have been served to thousands of people. I can honestly say I wish there was no need for this benefit or for this soup kitchen but the fact of the matter is when I first started, one benefit would supply enough money to feed people for almost eight months. Now the soup kitchen runs out of supplies in three months. This is due to the combination of a drop in donations and a rise in the number of homeless - a tragic combo to say the least.

I'll spare all of you what I could say about what the homeless represent as the "other side" of this, the once richest nation in the world. Financially rich we once were, no doubt about it. But those times are a changing and that is the panic in the air that we are all breathing. We know that myth has cracked and is no more. We must remind ourselves, however, that the loss of our economic status is something America faced before. Nations evolve through dark nights just as people do. Any person who assumed that America would always be rich, always be on top, always be the most powerful, always be anything and everything never encountered the fundamental teachings of the Buddha: all things are subject to the law of change. And even if that person never heard of the Buddha, the laws of physics provide the same teachings. And if that person avoided science class, then common sense and Mother Nature offers the same lessons on the truth that nothing in life remains the same - absolutely nothing. Why would a nation not be governed under the same mystical laws as an individual? After all: What is in One is in the Whole. Size does not interfere with the functioning of a mystical law/truth. 

What we must, therefore, seek are qualities of the soul that are able to remain intact no matter what changes in the world around us. We must be able to count on our character. If we are a generous nation, we must we remain a generous nation regardless of the difficult times we cycle into. If we are a courageous nation, we must become even more courageous as courage means nothing when there is no challenge to confront. In difficult times, the list of challenges often grows longer than we had ever imagined and on that list, much to our surprise, we may even find our own names. We must be mindful of our own character, our own beliefs, our own susceptibility to fears and political spin now more than ever. The madness in Arizona, the Tea Party movement that offers endless destruction but lacks any clarity of vision - these are symptoms of the beginning of the worst of us under fire. We already know that there is a rise in homelessness and unemployment and with yet another catastrophe - the Gulf oil crisis - who knows how that will domino. We've yet to go through the hurricane season; we've yet to go through a tourist season with declines in people traveling to the Florida beaches....you get the picture. 

I wish there was not a need for benefits for the homeless, but the fact is there is now a need for these benefits and for benefits for kids who want an education and, well, the list grows longer every month. You need only to pick your area of commitment. 

Here are the details: I am lecturing on Friday, July 23, 2010 on behalf of the Trenton Soup Kitchen. Every single cent goes for food - every cent. The location is the College of New Jersey. Phone: 609-695-5456 Ext. 105

I'm sure the vast majority of you cannot attend but let me ask if you would consider sending in $5.00. You have no idea how much that would help - no idea. Food bought in bulk is much cheaper and $5.00 goes a long, long way. Send you checks to: The Trenton Soup Kitchen, c/o Michael Gluck, 118 Rolling Hill Road, Skillman, New Jersey 08558.

I really grew in understanding about the journey of the homeless when I wrote, INVISIBLE ACTS OF POWER, because many people who once been homeless wrote letters to me sharing how they had "returned to life", thanks to the help of others. I can tell you that the help each of these people described was not great, big, huge, but the type that came from the power of one human soul to another. One man wrote that he made it back from the streets not because someone sponsored him with an enormous amount of money but because one woman was not afraid to touch him while he was dirty and on the streets. She kneeled next to him, touched his arm, and said to him, "I'll pray for you and I know you'll find a way through this." And he did. 

People do not want to be homeless. They do not want to be without dignity and self-respect. Each one of these human beings has a story of how their lives fell out of control and not necessarily through addiction or carelessness. These days, job losses and sudden turns in one's personal economic situation has caused many professionals to find themselves in exactly the same overwhelming frightening situation.

So, I am reaching out to all of you on behalf of all of these people. Anything you can send would be greatly appreciated. And if you can join me, I would be so grateful. And finally, one thing we can all do together is pray for all these people - and for all people who are living the "vulnerable" life. Here's a thought that is a truth: We are, all of us, making a journey off a familiar planet together. Think about that. The world we grew up in - a world that did not know all this electronic stuff, all these environmental problems, all these crises, all this internet stuff, kids that no nothing about playing outside safely - that is the world we are leaving together. We are traveling like children in the dark to a place yet to be discovered...and that, my darlings, is the truth. So we must trust our inner senses as our true compass far more than our five senses as those senses look for the familiar - and with each passing day, less and less is familiar. Thank heavens you have your inner world as an option...

I am hugging all of you and wishing we were in a classroom together right now, sitting around talking about this. I am writing a Salon shortly instructing readers on how to work with the rare and unusual planetary energies that are gathering now and through the summer. What a discussion we would have if we were together right now.

My love to you all....and that's life in the hood today.

Caroline

July  2010

An Exploration into Your True Center of Power.»
A Benefit for the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen (TASK)
Friday, July 23, 2010
The College of New Jersey 7:00 pm
609 695.5456 x105

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