OUR INTERESTING VALUES

     I am currently in Vail, Colorado.  While on a hike yesterday 5 people passed me on the trail.  They were rescue workers and they were going up to rescue a dog.  I was deeply touched to see these people on a late Sunday afternoon taking their time and energy to do such a lovely thing.

     And then I was struck by the dichotomy of what I was seeing before my eyes and the American political system.  Let me be clear, I have nothing against animal rescues.  I think it's beautiful to see. However I currently have two female clients who fear for their lives because of abusive husbands.  The rate of poverty in American is going up and if hunk Ryan has anything to say about our lives Medicaid and Medicare will be decimated.

     We have no money for people, bridges and education.  But we have all the money we need for cruise missiles.  I wonder how many people died of malnutrition and inadequate healthcare while these guys were saving the dog.   

NOT THERE YET

Fall Creek Falls, Tennessee, 10/09

Treat people and live amongst them in such a way so that when you die they will cry over you, and while you are alive they long for your company.

Traditional Muslim saying

We grow neither better nor worse as we grow old, but more like ourselves.

May Lamberton Becker

For NEW subscribers click here to receive the Dose:  http://www.bobshermanphotography.com/daily_dose

     As many of you know every day I send out a photograph of mine along with two quotes.  I call it the "Daily Dose".  Above is a dose from ten days ago.  I first started sending out the dose in 1997.  At that time it was one or two quotes from  spiritual traditions around the world.  My intent was to show my readers the similarities of these traditions and also to help them find their own spiritual path.  I started including one of my photos after 9/11.  We were about to blow up Afghanistan I wanted to put a face on the Afghan people.  I had been fortunate to have traveled through Afghanistan in 1974 and 1975 and I was one of my favorite places on the planet.
     Today the dose is read every day by thousands of people all over the world and I'm the guy who not only composes and sends out the dose but I'm also the one who manually adds and removes people from my distribution list.  On most days this usually means adding a few people.  During an average week one or two people might ask to be removed.  I'm always curious about when and why someone would ask to be removed.  On the day of this dose five people asked to be removed.  So I asked myself what's so special about this dose?  The picture may not be my greatest but it's not particularly offensive.  The quotes on the surface seem benign.  And then it hit me.  The attribution for the first quote was that it was a Muslim saying!
     The continued intention of the Dose is to share the beauty of the world in images and words.  It is my hope that with sufficient contact we will become far more aware of our similarities than our differences.  Isn't it sad that at this point in our country (none of the people who dropped out were foreigners) we are so polarized that just the word Muslim would prompt some to stop receiving any information that might allow them to expand their field of view.