The Chinese Philosopher Lao Tsu Gave The World Solutions To Today's Problems Nearly 3,000 Years Ago...

Laozi, born in 604BC and who died in 531BC was a legendary philosopher of ancient China.
He's best known as the author
of the Tao Te Ching.
He was also the founder of philosophical Taoism as well as being revered as a deity in religous Taoism and traditional Chinese religions.
Finding these words of his, written nearly three thousand years ago made me realise nothing much has changed. That the stories of the past are the stories of the future.

Better to keep your country small
Your people few
Your devices simple

And even those for infrequent use.
Let people measure life
By the meaning of death
And not go out of their way
To visit far off places
With nowhere to travel
And little care for the display of great ships
And shining weapon become
Mere relics of the past.

Let people recover
The simple life
Reckoning by knotted cords
Delighting in a basic meal
Pleased with humble attire
Happy in their homes
Taking pleasure in their rustic ways.

So content are they
That nearby towns
So close, the sound of dogs and roosters
Forms one chorus.
Folks grown grey with age
May pass away never having strayed
Beyond their village.

Lao Tzu.   

Hugging For Peace...

This young man is trying to make the world a better place in general and relations between Korea and Japan especially.
Hugging for Peace.
Such an audacious thought!
He features on this YouTube video holding his sign and encouraging people to hug.
It's the sort of thing we could all do.
The well known lyrics from the song 
Man in The Mirror include 'If you want to make the world a better place - take a look at yourself in the mirror - and make a change - Start with the man in the mirror - I'm asking him to change his ways'.
I wonder, do you think it could work?
Imagine...

John Lennon Lives On In Prague...

The John Lennon Wall is dedicated to peace and the freedom of speech.
Situated in Mala Strana in the Czech Republic's beautiful city of Prague, this once very ordinary wall has, since the 1980's been transformed, painted over and painted again and again by many thousands of people who initially defied the authorities and risked imprisonment to voice their views in their quest for personal freedoms.
John Lennon influenced and inspired the 'Velvet Revolution' which eventually led to the fall of communism in the former Czechoslovakia in 1989.
In 2011, The Protester was Time Magazine's Person of The Year.
Perhaps The Protester will, in 2012, become even more of a figure of hope.
We might even witness less greed and our world may become less punitive, more benevolent, more giving and caring.
Maybe the campaigns against world and local governments who continue to take personal freedoms away from their citizens will be won.
Maybe governments will listen to what their people want.
Maybe I'm being silly and naive again.
Welcome to my first post of this new year.
I wish you much love, peace, happiness and good health in 2012...