"All That Is Gold Does Not Glitter"

All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost;

The old that is strong does not wither,

Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,

A light from the shadows shall spring;

Renewed shall be blade that was broken,

The crownless again shall be king.

-J.R.R Tolkien

Bobby Caldwell - What You Won't Do For Love

Eid-al-Adha - Meat or Sacrifice?

Food for thought. Unfortunately, the more humans that live on Earth, the more extinctions of predatory and other species will result from our activities, which means all-the-more "management" (i.e- slaughtering of other animals by humans) to balance and regulate the ecosystem. Besides, as the author points out, meat-consumption in a majority of the Muslim and developing world is well below that of the U.S, and therefore wouldn't necessarily qualify as extreme consumption like we have here in the States. Still, I find her proposition interesting and agree with what is said regarding the incompatibility of Islamic values with intensive animal-farming methods. Now pass me that corn-on-the-cob will ya?

http://farahakbar.blogspot.com/2011/08/eid-sacrifice-full-article.html

Child Labor

The more our lives feel like fantasy the more someone else's life becomes a nightmare supporting our dream life. We should remember that there is always a cost to luxury, even if we're not the ones paying for it, someone else is. Multinational corporations sell us heavenly comforts at the expense of hellish labor for its workers. Behind all the wonderful products we take for granted there are legions of nameless laborers who slave over it; their entire family and in some cases the entire community itself is engrossed in making that one product. Luxury and comfort aren't free. I wish there was an easy solution to tackle this problem. I wish the poor and helpless children had some other means to make a living, but I wonder if others who established these structures and systems of abuse, who profit off of them everyday, share in the guilt that I have. Whether we are aware of where our purchases go, what exactly our money supports, doesn't change the fact that we as a society remain complacent in the face of inhumane exploitation. And so, with deep embarrassment I show my humble gratitude to all the children of the world who made the products I enjoy using. Appreciation and apology don't go well together- neither do child and labor. At the very least, in your honor, we need to increase our knowledge and awareness of these corrupt practices and remove our support of them wherever possible. To the children, may your dreams be richer than our own and may we all help to support those dreams one day, ameen.


http://www.childinfo.org/labour.html
http://www.freethechildren.com/
http://goodweave.org/index.php?pid=9300

Kishore Kumar - Ghungru Ki Tarha Bajta Hi Raha