Names, Ages, and a few large graves

This is the stone with the names and ages of people killed when my grandmothers village was massacred. I just found this photo.

Have you ever gotten an amazing idea to change the world... started a huge project... and then never gone back to it again? Can't blame him for trying.. leave comments!

http://humanprosperity.org/

The Catholic Bargain, at the cost of helping the homeless

Catholic Church gives D.C. ultimatum
Same-sex marriage bill, as written, called a threat to social service contracts

"The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington said Wednesday that it will be unable to continue the social service programs it runs for the District if the city doesn't change a proposed same-sex marriage law, a threat that could affect tens of thousands of people the church helps with adoption, homelessness and health care....."

Please check out this article.

As a follow up to my comment response in my last post: This is the cemetery. You can't see the ground really, but where the grass clears there are two parallel graves that run 15 to 20 feet. Each grave is a rise in the ground the width of a body, edged with wood and surrounded by miscellaneous crosses. There is one large, fairly new, headstone in the corner of the cemetery which includes the names and ages of all who were killed (maybe 50 people, maybe more maybe less) from children to the elderly. Perhaps the only testament to their lives, other than surviving relations. My grandmother at 17 witnessed the massacre and barely escaped. (She's one tough lady.)This was her village.

The cemetery is in the middle of the hills. There is no road or path to it, although it was possible to walk on some tractor markings in neighboring farms. The entire surrounding area felt like the Sound of Music. The cemetery is in this huddle of trees, offering shade. The sun was bright and the air was fresh. It was horrible to imagine the massacre, but the peace and beauty in this spot in the mountains was an odd juxtaposition to the graves. I thought how lucky anyone would be to live here, and how terrible it was for troops to march in and massacre this people. My trip was a revelation of beauty and terror.

My grandmother is 85. This is the house she was born in in Europe. I traveled across the world to Poland find it and her relations, not knowing a word of Ukrianian, just to hang out before studying abroad. A year later, I studied Polish intensively and returned to study in Poland, and return to visit. I have since been invited back, but I can hardly by groceries at the moment. I think that our names and our families mean a lot. I also think that "Life is brilliant."

A Brilliant Moment

When I studied in Rome, I didn't know anyone in the program and everyone was a year older. I became good friends with a variety of people from different walks of life.. called by Italy. (I studied French for 5 1/2 years before studying in Italy...it has a way of .. calling people.)

One very sweet girl who is now in her first year at a very good medical school was very dedicated to going to church on Sunday's, no matter what city we were in that weekend. God will return to you what you give to him, and he will bless you in your efforts to find a mass, she said. Church is surely a cultural experience, but when you are slightly hungover in the am or already sort of drunk in the pm, mass doesn't always seem that appealing. Clearly we were blessed, look at the view I stumbled upon following her directions to this particular church...

Inside, the congregation was sparse, mainly with older women and a few men. One women talked to us and repeated her Italian words over and over for us beginners...for a long time and gave us each a rosary. Surely, a cultural experience in the least.

A Beautiful Moment