WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT LOVE

What is love?  We all have ideas about what love is and how we are supposed to give and receive it but have we really taken the time and thought about how we love?  Poems are written about it, artists sing songs about it, movie plot lines revolve around finding and losing love – everyone has an opinion about love but most importantly, we all have experience the positive and negative aspects of being in love.

Here is the definition of love according to The Concise Oxford Dictionary (Ninth Edition):

•  An intense feeling of deep affection or fondness for a person or thing; great liking.
• Sexual passion.
• Sexual relations.
• A beloved one; a familiar form of address regardless of affection.

We all know and understand that there are different types of love but the feelings associated with that love are very similar.  Those feelings stir emotions and find their way to the deepest crevices of our minds and our hearts.  Here are some powerful quotes surrounding love from people of all walks of life:

“The conclusion is always the same.  Love is the most powerful and still the most unknown energy of the world.” – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

“Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.” – Mother Teresa

 

“Keep love in your heart.  A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead.” – Oscar Wilde

 

“New Age values are conscious evolution, a non-sectarian society, a non-military culture, global sharing, healing the environment, sustainable economies, self-determination, social justice, economic empowerment of the poor, love, compassion in action, going beyond religious fundamentalism, going beyond nationalism-extreme nationalism, culture.” – Deepak Chopra

 

“Since love grows within you, so beauty grows.  For love is the beauty of the soul.” – Saint Augustine

 

“I love dogs.  They live in the moment and don’t care about anything except affection and food.  They’re loyal and happy.  Humans are just too damn complicated.” – David Duchovny

 

“Love is a trap.  When it appears, we see only its light, not its shadows.” – Paulo Coelho

 

“I love argument, I love debate.  I don’t expect anyone just to sit there and agree with me, that’s not their job.” – Margaret Thatcher

 

“The more I think about it, the more I realize there is nothing more artistic than to love others.” – Vincent Van Gogh

 

“A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave.” – Mahatma Gandhi

 

“Your ordinary acts of love and hope point to the extraordinary promise that every human life is of inestimable value.” – Desmond Tutu

 

“Who could refrain that had a heart to love and in that heart courage to make love known?” – William Shakespeare

 

“If in my youth I had realized that the sustaining splendour of beauty of with which I was in love would one day flood back into my heart, there to ignite a flame that would torture me without end, how gladly would I have put out the light in my eyes.” – Michelangelo

 

“Whatever you want to do, if you want to be great at it, you have to love it and be able to make sacrifices for it.” – Maya Angelou

 

“When I found somebody who I fell in love with, it made me feel different than I felt the rest of the day.  It was electrifying.  That’s what inspired the “Off to the Races” melodies.  That’s one of the times when you’re feeling electrified by someone else and they make you happy to be alive.” – Lana Del Rey

 

“To be brave is to love someone unconditionally, without expecting anything in return.  To just give.  That takes courage, because we don’t want to fall on our faces or leave ourselves open to hurt.” – Madonna

“The winds that sometimes take something we love, are the same that bring us something we learn to love. Therefore we should not cry about something that was taken from us, but, yes, love what we have been given. Because what is really ours is never gone forever.” – Bob Marley

 

Every one of us has their own idea or concept of what love is but, there is no denying that we all feel the same way in terms of how the power of love affects us.  The quotes above are perfect examples of how love differs in intensity based on what or who you are loving.

 

Together (and with love), we can make the world a more positive one!

 

GAY IS NORMAL…AS NORMAL AS STRAIGHT.

We all know that there are many religious ‘wing nuts’ that vilify homosexuality by saying that “it’s a choice” and that “if God didn’t want homosexuals, he wouldn’t create them.”  Well – I can tell you (as a homosexual man), I did not make the choice to be gay, I have always known I was attracted to the same-sex and (if there is a God), I am proof that He did want homosexuals because I exist.

Let’s take a look at some quotes made by those who hide their bigotry and hate against gays behind their religion:

“We will see a breakdown of the family and family values if we decide to approve same-sex marriage, and if we decide to establish homosexuality as an acceptable alternative lifestyle with all the benefits that go with equating it with the heterosexual lifestyle.” – Jerry Falwell

 

“Homosexuality is against nature.  Sexual expression is permitted only within marriage, between man and woman, male and female.  Anything else is an abnormality and is against nature.” – Pope Shenouda III

 

“I just think my children and your children would be much better off and much more successful getting married and raising a family, and I don’t want them brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid and successful option – it isn’t.” – Carl Paladino

 

“But the Bible speaks against it, and because the Bible speaks against it, we allow rampant sin including homosexuality and lying, and to me lying is just as bad as homosexuality, and we’ve allowed this sin to run rampant in our nation.” – Reggie White

 

“You know, those who are homosexual will die out because they don’t reproduce. You know, you have to have heterosexual sex to reproduce. Same thing with that church, it’s doomed, it’s going to die out because it’s the most nonsensical thing I’ve heard in a long time.” – Pat Robertson

“In fact, it’s the greatest threat to liberty of all kinds, whether it is freedom of religion, whether it is freedom of speech, whether it is freedom of the press, whether it is freedom of association, all of the rights that are enshrined in the First Amendment are threatened by the active, aggressive homosexual lobby and the homosexual agenda.” – Bryan Fischer

Now, let’s take a look a some quotes that are not exclusive, biased and filled with hate and fear.  These are sensible (and sometimes funny) and intellectual quotes regarding homosexuality:

“Like a majority of Americans in recent years, I came to understand that fear of homosexuality was leading our governments – including the one I ran as Governor of Mississippi – to deny the equal rights to an entire segment of our population that are afforded all of us under the Constitution.” – Ronnie Musgrove

 

“I think people feel threatened by homosexuality.  The problem isn’t about gay people, the problem is about the attitude towards gay people.  People think that all gays are Hannibal Lecters.  But gay people are sons and daughters, politicians and doctors, American heroes and daughters of American heroes.” – Hollis Stacy

 

“I don’t think homosexuality is a choice.  Society forces you to think it’s a choice, but in fact, it’s in one’s nature.  The choice is whether one expresses one’s nature truthfully or spends the rest of one’s life lying about it.” – Marlo Thomas

 

“Jesus never said a word about homosexuality.  In all of his teachings about multiple things – he never said that gay people should be condemned.  I personally think it is very fine for gay people to be married.” – Jimmy Carter

 

“Homosexuality in Russia is a crime and the punishment is seven years in prison, locked up with the other men.  There is a three-year waiting list.” – Yakov Smirnoff

 

“What do you mean you don’t believe in homosexuality?  It’s not like the Easter Bunny, your belief isn’t necessary.” – Lea DeLaria

 

“Homosexuality is like the weather.  It just is.” – Andrew Sullivan

 

“I have no problem with it (homosexuality).  I don’t look on homosexuality as an aberration.  It’s just the way they’re born, and how could any relationship between two people in a committed relationship be wrong, regardless of gender?” – Andrea Thompson

 

“Heterosexuality is not normal, it’s just common.” – Dorothy Parker

 

“If religion is against homosexuality, then it is against the will and happiness of people.” – M. F. Moonzajer

 

That last quote is very profound because it suggests that many who believe the religious assertion about homosexuality is against their happiness as they were created that way in the eyes of God.  How can you condemn someone from birth?  You can’t judge someone based on their genetic make-up – it would be like condemning someone for being born with blue eyes, darker skin or without eyesight.  People need to stop interpreting religious doctrine to serve their own hateful and judgemental purposes.  They also need to stop trying to divide people based on their unique differences and accept people for those differences.

 

Together, we can make the world a more positive one!

 

 

WE NEED POSITIVE CHANGE NOW!

How well do you respond to social, political, environmental, and personal change?  We all respond to personal change in a different way – some people can just move forward without any further thought about the change that happened while others, tend to see this change as something to fear.  If we look at social, political, environmental and life change with love and as a learning experience, you will never have to fear it. 

I believe that so many people – past and present – felt so strongly about creating positive change into the world that all they could do is act on making that change happen through their passion and their desire to do good.  People like; John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi, The Dalai Lama, The Freedom Riders, Princess Diana, John Lennon, etc…because of their passion to invoke positive change – many of these people created movements that changed the world forever.  This momentum has to continue.

Here are some great quotes about change from people listed above and some other great individuals:

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” – Mahatma Gandhi

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world.  Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead

“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” – Leo Tolstoy

“The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking.  It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” – Albert Einstein

“They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” – Andy Warhol

“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes.  Don’t resist them; that only creates sorrow.  Let reality be reality.  Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” – Lao Tzu

“We are products of our past, but we don’t have to be prisoners of it.” – Rick Warren

“Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” – George Bernard Shaw

“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” – Mother Teresa

“Some changes look negative on the surface but you will soon realize that space is being created in your life for something new to emerge.” – Eckhart Tolle

“No matter who you are, no matter what you did, no matter where you’ve come from, you can always change, become a better version of yourself.” – Madonna

“All that you touch You Change.  All that you Change Changes you.  The only lasting truth is Change.  God is Change.” – Octavia E. Butler

“The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways:  the point, however, is to change it.” – Karl Marx

“The more things change, the more they stay the same.  I’m not sure who the first person was who said that.  Probably Shakespeare.  Or maybe Sting.  But at the moment, it’s the sentence that best explains my tragic flaw, my inability to change.  I don’t think I’m alone in this.  The more I get to know other people, the more I realize it’s kind of everyone’s flaw.  Staying exactly the same for as long as possible, standing perfectly still…It feels safer somehow.  And if you are suffering, at least the pain is familiar.  Because if you took the leap of faith, went outside the box, did something unexpected…Who knows what other pain might be out there, waiting for you.  Chances are it could be even worse.  So you maintain the status quo.  Choose the road already traveled and it doesn’t seem that bad.  Not as far as flaws go.  You’re not a drug addict. You’re not killing anyone…Except maybe yourself a little.  When we finally do change, I don’t think it happens like an earthquake or an explosion, where all of a sudden we’re like this different person.  I think it’s smaller than that.  The kind of thing most people wouldn’t even notice unless they looked at us really close.  Which, thank God, they never do.  But you notice it.  Inside you that change feels like a world of difference.  And you hope this is it.  This is the person you get to be forever…that you’ll never have to change again.” – Laura J. Burns

“Desperation is the raw material of drastic change.  Only those who can leave behind everything they have ever believed in can hope to escape.” – William S. Burroughs

“People can cry much easier than they can change.” – James Baldwin

“A little rebellion is a good thing.” – Thomas Jefferson

“Your hand opens and closes, opens and closes.  If it were always a fist or always stretched open, you would be paralysed.  Your deepest presence is in every small contracting and expanding, the two as beautifully balanced and coordinated as birds’ wings.”  – Rumi

“One of the great liabilities of history is that all too many people fail to remain awake through great periods of social change.  Every society has its protectors of status quo and its fraternities of the indifferent who are notorious for sleeping through revolutions.  Today, our very survival depends on our ability to stay awake, to adjust to new ideas, to remain vigilant and to face the challenge of change.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

“To change one’s life:  1.  Start immediately.  2.  Do it flamboyantly.  3.  No exceptions.” – William James

All of these quotes, surrounding change, are profound and inspiring.  These inspiring people lived by their words – they live (or lived) their lives based on the change they experienced and the world today is a product of how they created that change.  Change can’t happen if we sit still and do nothing.  If you are not happy with certain aspects of your life – work towards changing what you need to change to be more fulfilled.  If you are unhappy about government policies – don’t wait until someone else is unhappy about those policies – get together with like-minded people and demand the positive change you want to see. 

We are at a very crucial point in our existence – we must act on what Mahatma Gandhi insisted – “Be the change you wish to see in the world”.  Be the change you wish to see in the world – think about that.  Meditate on that quote – live that quote and you will a conduit for the change you wish to see in the world.  It’s a great place to start.

Together, we can make the world a more positive one!

THINGS CELEBRITIES SAY……..

As a gay male and vegetarian – I am very interested on what celebrities have to say on these issues.  I have compiled a list of quotes from some celebrities (living and deceased) on various issues, here are some of my favourites:

“I think every person has the ability to affect change…through our every thought, our every word, the way that we interact with other people, we are constantly affecting the world” – Adam Yauch (Rapper – Beastie Boys/Activist)

“I was horrified when Richard Chamberlain and Rupert Everett said gay actors should stay in the closet.  They were saying to people that they should live a lie and not be liberated, to live in fear of being found out” – Alan Cumming  (Actor – played Nightcrawler in X2: X-Men United and is currently on the television series, The Good Wife)

“There’s a cleanliness to how I eat now.  I’m much more in tune with my body, so now that I’m so in tune based on having become semi-vegan, I can tell what foods affect energy levels” – Alanis Morissette (Singer/Songwriter/Actress)

“Nothing will benefit human health and increased chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet” – Albert Einstein

“I try to eat healthy, but I won’t get on other people’s nerves about it” – Angela Bassett (Actress – played Tina Turner in What’s Love Got To Do With It)

“I think I’ve always been bi-sexual.  I mean, it’s something that I’ve always been interested in.  I think people are born bi-sexual, and it’s just that our parents and society kind of veer us of into this feeling of ‘Oh, I can’t’.  It’s ingrained in our heads that it’s bad, when it’s not bad at all.  It’s a very beautiful thing” – Billie Joe Armstrong (Lead Singer – Green Day)

“Let us be the ones who say we do not accept that a child dies every three seconds simply because he does not have the drugs you and I have.  Let us be the ones to say we are not satisfied that your place of birth determines your right to life.  Let us be outraged, let us be loud, let us be bold” – Brad Pitt (Actor/Activist)

“I’ve been vegetarian for about 17-18 years now, since I was about 28.  And of course, my motto has always been ‘if you love animals, don’t eat them’.  I’m opposed to fur and any kind of use of animal products.  I don’t eat them and I don’t wear them.  I’m not for the killing of any creature – whether it be seals, cows, dogs, anything.  So anytime it comes to any kind of animal cruelty, I’m totally against it” – Bryan Adams (Singer/Photographer)

“I think and speak clearer since I cut the dairy out.  I can breathe better and perform at a better rate, and my voice is clearer.  I can explore different things with my voice that I couldn’t do because of my meat and dairy ingestion.  I am proud and blessed to be a vegetarian, everything became clear” – Common (Hip-hop artist/Actor)

“The fur industry butchers animals and pollutes our environment.  I could never wear fur” – Fernanda Tavares (Brazilian model)

“Being vegan helped me realize I can say and do what I believe is right.  That’s powerful” – Alicia Silverstone (Actress/Author)

“I gave up meat when I was twelve.  One day I was cutting up a chicken for my mom, and I hit a tumor with the knife.  There was pus and blood all over the place.  That was enough for me” – Josh Harnett (Actor)

“People get offended by animal rights campaigns.  It’s ludicrous.  It’s not as bad as mass animal death in a factory” – Richard Gere (Actor/Activist)

“In some roles I have to wear fur, and I always make sure it’s fake, like in Austin Powers:  The Spy Who Shagged Me.  Faux fur is great because it shows people that faux can look fabulous” – Kristen Johnston (Actress)

“You need to hunt something that can shoot back at you to really classify yourself as a hunter.  You need to understand the feeling of what it’s like to go into the field and know your opposition can take you out.  Not just go out there and shoot Bambi” – Gov., Jesse Ventura (Former Governor and Pro-Wrestler)

“I’m picky when it comes to food – as long as there’s not meat in it” – Orlando Bloom (Actor)

“Meat is dirty.  I wouldn’t touch a hot dog without a condom on it” – Bill Maher (Comedian)

“To become vegetarian is to step into the stream which leads to nirvana” – Buddha

“Some people are still going to want to eat meat…we do agree though that vegetarianism is a healthier diet” – David Stroud (American Meat Institute)

“I abhor vivisection.  It should at least be curbed.  Better, it should be abolished.  I know of no achievement through vivisection, no scientific discovery, that could not be obtained without such barbarism and cruelty.  The whole thing is evil” – Charles Mayo (founder of the Mayo Clinic)

“If any kid ever realized what was involved in factory farming they would never touch meat again.  I was so moved by the intelligence, sense of fun and personalities of the animals I worked with on Babe that by the end of the film I was vegetarian” – James Cromwell (Actor)

“The medical argument for animal testing doesn’t stand up.  Even if it did, I don’t think we should kill other species.  We think we’re so much better; I’m not sure we are.  I tell people, we’ve beaten into submission every animal on the face of the Earth, so we are clear winners of whatever battle is going on between the species.  Couldn’t we be generous?  I really think it’s time to get nice.  No need to keep beating up on them.  I think we’ve got to show that we’re kind” – Paul McCartney (Singer/Actor/Activist)

“I grew up in cattle country – that’s why I became a vegetarian.  Meat stinks, for the animals, the environment, and your health” – K.D. Lang (Singer)

“You ask people why they have deer heads on the wall.  They always say, ‘because it’s such a beautiful animal’.  There you go.  I think my mother’s attractive, but I have photographs of her” – Ellen DeGeneres (Talk Show Host/Comedienne/Actress)

“How can you eat anything with eyes?” – Will Kellogg (Inventor, Corn Flakes)

“Behind every beautiful fur, there is a story.  It is a bloody, barbaric story” – Mary Tyler Moore (Actress)

“Fur used to turn heads, now it turns stomachs” – Rue McClanahan (Actress)

“When I was old enough to realize all meat was killed, I saw it as an irrational way of using our power, to take a weaker thing and mutilate it.  It was like the way bullies would take control of younger kids in the schoolyard” – River Phoenix (Actor)

“I think there will come a time, and this is down the road a great many years, when civilized people will look back in horror on our generation and the ones that have preceded it:  the idea that we should eat other living things running around on four legs, that we should raise them just for the purpose of killing them!  The people of the future will say, meat-eaters in disgust and regard us in the same way we regard cannibals and cannibalism” – Dennis Weaver (Actor/Humanitarian/Environmentalist)

“The thing that has been weighing on my mind this week is that I wanted to go and save all the little live lobsters in restaurants and throw them back in the ocean.  Imagine me being arrested for that” – Drew Barrymore (Actress/Director)

“The average age (longevity) of a meat eater is 63.  I am on the verge of 85 and still work as hard as ever.  I have lived quite long enough and am trying to die; but I simply cannot do it.  A single beef-steak would finish me; but I cannot bring myself to swallow it.  I am oppressed with a dread of living forever.  That is the only disadvantage of vegetarianism” – George Bernard Shaw (Playwright/Co-Founder of London School of Economics/Writer/Nobel Prize Winner(Literature) 

“They’ve been trying to test on animals for the past 50 years.  Nobody’s come up with a cure.  If you want to test on somebody, test on me” – Montell Williams (Former Talk Show Host)

“Many years ago, I was in a Broadway show and I had to wear a fox fur around my shoulders.  One day my hand touched one of the fox’s legs.  I t seemed to be in two pieces.  Then it dawned on me….her leg had probably been snapped in two by the steel trap that had caught it” – Bea Arthur (Actress)

“I’d like to see animals removed from the entertainment business.  Chimpanzees and apes won’t perform unless you beat them.  Circuses keep elephants in chains 90 percent of the time.  Elephants need freedom of movement.  In circuses, they live in cramped quarters, which is not the life intended for them by nature.  Some are beaten daily, forced to do ridiculous tricks and robbed of every shred of dignity” – Bob Barker (Television Game Host/Activist)

“If you look at the course of western history you’ll see that we’re slowly granting basic right to everyone.  A long time ago only kings had rights. Then rights were extended to property-owning white men.  Then all men.  Then women. Then children.  Then the mentally retarded.  Now we’re agonizing over the extension of basic rights to homosexuals and animals.  We need to finally accept that all sentient creatures are deserving of basic rights.  I define basic rights as this – the ability to pursue life without having someone else’s will involuntarily forced upon you.  Or, as the framers of the constitution put it, the ability to have “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”.  By what criteria can you justify denying basic right to any living thing?  Realize that by whatever criteria you employ someone could deny basic rights to you if they objected to your species, sexual preference, colour, religion, ideology etc.  Would you eat your house cat, or force a mentally retarded child to ingest oven cleaner?  If not, then why is it ok to eat cows and test products on sentient animals?  I believe that to knowingly commit actions that cause or condone suffering is reprehensible in the extreme.  I call upon you to be compassionate and treat others as you want to be treated.  If you don’t want to be beaten, imprisoned, mutilated, killed or tortured then you shouldn’t condone such behaviour toward anyone, be they human or not” – Moby (Singer/DJ/Activist)

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated” – Mohandas Gandhi (Preeminent Leader of Indian Nationalism)

Together, we can make the world a more positive one!