Much appreciated message that can easily slip through the cracks of our busy lives but is never completely forgotten. Without love, life has no purpose. With love, all things are possible ❤️
Thank you, Gary. My mother grew up during the Great Depression. Her father died just as it started from TB he got during WWI. Her mother went to work and her granny ran the house. They lived modestly, yet my mom told me that every day her granny would cook enough to put out food for men in the neighborhood to take home to their families. This wasn’t unusual. I’ve heard this from many of my friends with parents who also grew up then. If you had something, you gave part of it to your community. Because you loved your community.
While I don’t condone your friends’ behavior, I do understand it. The homeless situation has become out of control. It’s become a political strategy used by people who wouldn’t know love if they fell over it. They use the homeless to create hatred in voters rather than love. Cea Weaver, Mandani’s hopeless appointee is a perfect example. Anyone who has tweeted the hatred she feels for her own class — white and privileged — is incapable of love. You cannot love through hate. No matter how compelling your rhetoric, you’re lying in order to gain power over people. You can’t love the homeless more than people who are fortunate enough to own a home and afford to eat and clothe themselves.
And you have to love yourself first before you can love anyone else. When I was eighteen I went to hear the great Vedanta monk, Swami Prabhavananda. I had always thought that love meant self-sacrifice. But he talked that day about how you can’t save anyone or anything unless you save yourself first. And you can’t love anyone or anything else until you love yourself.
Your friends have probably had to listen to too much hatred — of them. Hatred of their “privilege” and their race, if it is white. It’s time to extend love to everyone. I live in a city where there is a very privileged community and I see way too much self-hatred among those white people. They send their kids to expensive schools where they are taught — not love — but self-hatred. And this is why we will continue to have more of a homeless problem.
My grandparents’ generation did not hate themselves for being able to live in a home during the Great Depression. They loved what they had and who they were. And that’s what infused their love of community and gave them love to share with those around them who were less fortunate.
Thank you, MAHA Report for letting me go on like this!
That was THE MOST incredible article I have read in a LONG while! It aligns with so much that I have been learning recently. From listening to NDE’s to Identity Exchange to reading the Bible and more. Those are truly inspired words you wrote. I will share them. Thank you.
I loved reading this. I felt so reflected in the words and postures you shared. I grew up overseas in China, became friends with a lot of folks living on the streets, and when I moved back to the Twin Cities, I continued the same. It is amazing how humbling it is to join in that work of "recognition". Thank you for writing.
So much of what he said brings forth memories of when I was younger and wanting build a better world. So much of what he describes has underpinned much of how I've tried my best (but often failed) to go about things in life. So much describes biblical principles, specifically the Good Samaritan. It would be icing on the cake to link various parts of the article to scriptural passages, as it exemplifies the beautiful message and life of Christ: helping the other from a basis of agape love.
Truly, a powerful article. Thank you for posting this, hopefully it helps to keep the reason clear on why to make the world a better place, one person and one connection at a time.
Happy to see this on the MAHA Report. We need constant reminding that programs exist to serve people. I am reminded of the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes, which was nothing more than the simple act of individuals sharing what little they could spare so that everyone could be fed, and the story of the Good Samaritan.
Excellent reminder, especially in these times, that kindness & love is essential. A true example of paying it forward,not just with money but with empathy & understanding.
I agree with much written in this article, but something critical needs to be added. Where does this love come from? Who created it, created us? The answer is God. He is love. He is harmony and not chaos. He created the order of things. This is why we read His words, “ Love thy neighbor as thyself”. Leaving Him out of the equation almost disqualifies this very wonderful, inspiring, and wonderfully stated commentary
I don't think God was left out of this piece, necessarily. He is different things to different people. Some call Him the Universe. Others, the Life Force that animates all things. Still others, Love.
In 1980, I moved to NYC a week after my 19th birthday. Within the first few weeks, I discovered a cool health food store where I purchased a few books by Gary, Paul Braggs and Dr. Earl Minder. They helped set the course for my lifelong interest in understanding health and wellness. Certain elements of these books have remained fundamental in my awareness. Thank you, Gary.
So perfectly and fully expressed. I hope those who have written so very many hateful and “othering” comments regularly found on the MAHA report will reconsider their words. Thank you Gary.
“Not everything that calls itself love deserves the name. Possessiveness, jealousy, manipulation—these are counterfeits. They wear the mask of affection but are rooted in fear. Love does not deceive. It does not dominate. It does not wound in order to control.”
Once a person truly understands what love is, it’s appalling if not repulsive, to hear someone distort its meaning by aligning it with dysfunctional ego based behaviors.
I wrote an essay on this topic. It is not “the homeless “ it’s people without homes and each one has a unique background and story that landed them where they are. Categories are dehumanizing.
Much appreciated message that can easily slip through the cracks of our busy lives but is never completely forgotten. Without love, life has no purpose. With love, all things are possible ❤️
"For God didn't give us a spirit of fear, but of power, of love and of a sound mind."
2 Timothy 1:7
Your kind gesture was all that was needed to turn Jimmy's life around to one of dignity and purpose.
Yes, one person at a time can create miracles.
Thank you, Gary. My mother grew up during the Great Depression. Her father died just as it started from TB he got during WWI. Her mother went to work and her granny ran the house. They lived modestly, yet my mom told me that every day her granny would cook enough to put out food for men in the neighborhood to take home to their families. This wasn’t unusual. I’ve heard this from many of my friends with parents who also grew up then. If you had something, you gave part of it to your community. Because you loved your community.
While I don’t condone your friends’ behavior, I do understand it. The homeless situation has become out of control. It’s become a political strategy used by people who wouldn’t know love if they fell over it. They use the homeless to create hatred in voters rather than love. Cea Weaver, Mandani’s hopeless appointee is a perfect example. Anyone who has tweeted the hatred she feels for her own class — white and privileged — is incapable of love. You cannot love through hate. No matter how compelling your rhetoric, you’re lying in order to gain power over people. You can’t love the homeless more than people who are fortunate enough to own a home and afford to eat and clothe themselves.
And you have to love yourself first before you can love anyone else. When I was eighteen I went to hear the great Vedanta monk, Swami Prabhavananda. I had always thought that love meant self-sacrifice. But he talked that day about how you can’t save anyone or anything unless you save yourself first. And you can’t love anyone or anything else until you love yourself.
Your friends have probably had to listen to too much hatred — of them. Hatred of their “privilege” and their race, if it is white. It’s time to extend love to everyone. I live in a city where there is a very privileged community and I see way too much self-hatred among those white people. They send their kids to expensive schools where they are taught — not love — but self-hatred. And this is why we will continue to have more of a homeless problem.
My grandparents’ generation did not hate themselves for being able to live in a home during the Great Depression. They loved what they had and who they were. And that’s what infused their love of community and gave them love to share with those around them who were less fortunate.
Thank you, MAHA Report for letting me go on like this!
Beautiful, Polly. Thanks for sharing that heartfelt message.
That was THE MOST incredible article I have read in a LONG while! It aligns with so much that I have been learning recently. From listening to NDE’s to Identity Exchange to reading the Bible and more. Those are truly inspired words you wrote. I will share them. Thank you.
I loved reading this. I felt so reflected in the words and postures you shared. I grew up overseas in China, became friends with a lot of folks living on the streets, and when I moved back to the Twin Cities, I continued the same. It is amazing how humbling it is to join in that work of "recognition". Thank you for writing.
So much of what he said brings forth memories of when I was younger and wanting build a better world. So much of what he describes has underpinned much of how I've tried my best (but often failed) to go about things in life. So much describes biblical principles, specifically the Good Samaritan. It would be icing on the cake to link various parts of the article to scriptural passages, as it exemplifies the beautiful message and life of Christ: helping the other from a basis of agape love.
Truly, a powerful article. Thank you for posting this, hopefully it helps to keep the reason clear on why to make the world a better place, one person and one connection at a time.
Beautiful, and inspiring. Thank you for the reminder. If only everyone in the world remembered.
Happy to see this on the MAHA Report. We need constant reminding that programs exist to serve people. I am reminded of the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes, which was nothing more than the simple act of individuals sharing what little they could spare so that everyone could be fed, and the story of the Good Samaritan.
Excellent reminder, especially in these times, that kindness & love is essential. A true example of paying it forward,not just with money but with empathy & understanding.
A profound Ode to Love!💗
I agree with much written in this article, but something critical needs to be added. Where does this love come from? Who created it, created us? The answer is God. He is love. He is harmony and not chaos. He created the order of things. This is why we read His words, “ Love thy neighbor as thyself”. Leaving Him out of the equation almost disqualifies this very wonderful, inspiring, and wonderfully stated commentary
I don't think God was left out of this piece, necessarily. He is different things to different people. Some call Him the Universe. Others, the Life Force that animates all things. Still others, Love.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU....You restore my faith in humanity ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Good on Ya, Gary. I always keep folded dollars for beggars, and look them in the eye, and wish them well, on my bike or in a car.
I read a book of yours about living a long time in the late 1990s.
;-)
In 1980, I moved to NYC a week after my 19th birthday. Within the first few weeks, I discovered a cool health food store where I purchased a few books by Gary, Paul Braggs and Dr. Earl Minder. They helped set the course for my lifelong interest in understanding health and wellness. Certain elements of these books have remained fundamental in my awareness. Thank you, Gary.
So perfectly and fully expressed. I hope those who have written so very many hateful and “othering” comments regularly found on the MAHA report will reconsider their words. Thank you Gary.
This:
“Not everything that calls itself love deserves the name. Possessiveness, jealousy, manipulation—these are counterfeits. They wear the mask of affection but are rooted in fear. Love does not deceive. It does not dominate. It does not wound in order to control.”
Once a person truly understands what love is, it’s appalling if not repulsive, to hear someone distort its meaning by aligning it with dysfunctional ego based behaviors.
I wrote an essay on this topic. It is not “the homeless “ it’s people without homes and each one has a unique background and story that landed them where they are. Categories are dehumanizing.