Space Goddess

“I have one request: may I never use my reason against truth.” – Elie Wiesel

Honesty with ourselves is a great asset in every situation we confront. The skill to look reality square in the face and call it what it is takes us a good distance toward coping with it. However, many of us also have the skill to spin or rationalize our actions so that we don’t have to face something unpleasant. The skill provides us with excuses and evasions but it is the greatest betrayal of our selves. When we use our brain to cleverly cover the truth of our actions, we often believe our own lies, and then we’re incapable of rectifying them.

Just as dishonesty builds and grows on itself, so does honesty. We cannot one day decide to be honest and change in a flash because we don’t see all of our self-deceit yet. But we can make the decision to be as honest as we know how. Then we will soon be surprised by how much is revealed to us as the fog of our self-deceit lifts and our honesty builds upon itself.

Today I will strive to see reality as it is and not shape it to suit my ego’s desires.

-from Wisdom to Know, May 31, Hazelden Publications-

NOT TRUE! I do write—just not doing as much here as on facebook and twitter! I haven’t forsaken you! Look for me on facebook-Barbara Sackheim King or catch my “tweets” www.twitter.com/travelingking1

I’ve learned how to link my tweets to facebook but haven’t gotten tweets linked to my blog…help!!!!

  I feel like I am part of a tornado that just roared through Kansas! A lifetime ago I learned about something called the WorldWide Web. My first foray was AOL. Wow, it had news, chat rooms, shopping—simply amazing! All I needed to do this was a box called a modem, a telephone line, and patience—for when the connection failed—but I would just diligently redial and smile because I was able to shop the world and catch up with friends all from my home PC (don’t you just love tech talk?).Next I launched my company website, www.greatgetway.com which has morphed into www.greatgetaways.travel. I learned new stuff like HTML and flash. Can you believe we could .com, .net, .org, .us, .tv, and DOT TRAVEL .travel????Oh, and next came the weblog, the blog–an online journal of my activity…hmmm. Not sure if this idea will take off…So glad I’m not the tech prognositicator extraordinaire! I couldn’t believe how blogging has become an important part of life–personal, business, social.This world is starting to spin uncontrollably fast!Okay, just as I’m learning to navigate and use WordPress, somebody told me about facebook and myspace. “Watch out,” she warned, “your kids will spend hours on these sites.” I started watching my son’s activity. “Mom, can I use your computer?” “Why, Josh?” “Oh, I need to research something on the Internet.” And, of course, he was connecting to this thing called “Facebook.” Who would spend time doing that, I wondered. I tried to investigate this new “fad” called social media. I couldn’t penetrate this teenage only world. It asked me what high school I attended and would verify my answer (Remember back then?). I dismissed this as a passing fad and went back to stressing over why I can’t position photos where I want to on WordPress.

A True Duck Story From San Antonio ….Verified on snopes.com!Something really cute happened in downtown San Antonio this week. Michael R. is now an accounting clerk at Frost Bank and works downtown in a second story office building. Several weeks ago, he watched a mother duck choose the concrete awning outside his window as the unlikely place to build a nest above the sidewalk. The mallard laid ten eggs in a nest in the corner of the planter that is perched over 10 feet in the air. She dutifully kept the eggs warm for weeks, and Monday afternoon all of her ten ducklings hatched.Michael worried all night how the momma duck was going to get those babies safely off their perch in a busy, downtown, urban environment to take to water, which typically happens in the first 48 hours of a duck hatching. Tuesday morning, Michael watched the mother duck encourage her babies to the edge of the perch with the intent to show them how to jump off!The mother flew down below and started quacking to her babies above. In disbelief Michael watched as the first fuzzy newborn toddled to the edge and astonishingly leapt into thin air, crashing onto the cement below. Michael couldn’t stand to watch this risky effort. He dashed out of his office and ran down the stairs to the sidewalk where the first obedient duckling was stuporing near its mother from the near fatal fall.As the second one took the plunge, Michael jumped forward and caught it with his bare hands before it hit the concrete. safe and sound, he set it by the momma and the other stunned sibling, still recovering from its painful leap.One by one the babies continued to jump. Each time Michael hid under the awning just to reach out in the nick of time as the duckling made its free fall. The downtown sidewalk came to a standstill. Time after time, Michael was able to catch the remaining 8 and set them by their approving mother. At this point Michael realized the duck family had only made part of its dangerous journey. They had 2 full blocks to walk across traffic, crosswalks, curbs, and pedestrians to get to the closest open water, the San Antonio River. The onlooking office secretaries and several San Antonio police officers joined in. They brought an empty copy paper box to collect the babies. They carefully corralled them, with the mother’s approval, and loaded them in the container.Michael held the box low enough for the mom to see her brood. He then slowly navigated through the downtown streets toward the San Antonio River . The mother waddled behind and kept her babies in sight. As they reached the river, the mother took over and passed him, jumping into the river and quacking loudly.

At the water’s edge, he tipped the box and helped shepherd the babies toward the water and to their mother after their adventurous ride.All ten darling ducklings safely made it into the water and paddled up snugly to momma. Michael said the mom swam in circles, looking back toward the beaming bank bookkeeper, and proudly quacking. Live simply, Love generously, Care deeply, Speak kindly. And leave the rest to God

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…And the purpose for Super Bowl is? Beyond the obvious–sports championship, great ads (although very, very expensive ones), do we need a media hyped event to eat too much and drink too much? Personally, give me some yummy fibers, knitting needles, and peace and quiet.

In the second half of life the necessity is imposed of recognizing no longer the validity of our former ideals but of their contraries. Of perceiving the error in what was previously our conviction, of sensing the untruth in what was our truth, and of weighing the degree of opposition, and even of hostility, in what we took to be love.

  – Carl Gustav Jung

I’m really not fond of buzzwords or fads, so when I talk about “green” travel I’m addressing some of our inner core values. What is “green” travel? For me, it means that I travel responsibly, only taking photos and only leaving footprints; I support hotels and travel suppliers that give back to the community—both socially and economically; I use the same sheets and towels for multiple day hotel stays; I avoid hoarding the plastic-bottled toiletries; I often walk or take public transportation when sightseeing.

What I don’t like about the label “green” travel: that it connotes “roughing it” vacations (shunning beds, hot showers, and yummy food); I resent airlines that “ALLOW” you to purchase carbon offsets for pollution caused by them—hello???? Why doesn’t the airline purchase their own carbon offsets and also research more environmentally friendly fuels? I also get my dander up (is dander green????) when companies charge you more for responsible travel. It’s like paying more for healthy food.

Core value? What kind of person am I? How do I demonstrate it? Do I care about others? About our world? Or is it, when I’m honest with myself, all about me? This isn’t just about travel–it’s about daily life. Sometimes I demonstrate compassion and yet, at other times, I forget that the world has a population greater than 1. My goal: be the change I want to see. And you?