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Hibakujumoku: Hiroshima's trees of hope
One of the trees which survived the atomic bomb
‘Eucalypt at the site of Hiroshima Castle, 740 m from hypocenter. The tree survived the atomic bombing, while the castle was destroyed.’-
Caption and Photo:Wikipedia
75 years ago the US dropped an atomic bomb, nicknamed Little Boy, on Hiroshima, killing 140,000 of its 350,000 citizens. Three days later, a second bomb, Fat Man, was dropped on Nagasaki, killing 74,000 people.
Sunrise at the Atomic Bomb Dome in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, 6 August 2019. Photo: The Guardian
The trees that survived the bombing of Hiroshima
Photo:Green Legacy Hiroshima
How a message of hope and peace is being spread by trees that everybody believed were dead, but survived and became beacons of hope.
After the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on 6th August 1945 it was thought that nothing would grow in the city for 75 years. However, the following spring new seedlings were seen springing up amongst the debris of the city. They provided a powerful message to the survivors and gave them hope that they could rebuild their city.
Today Hiroshima is a green and vibrant city. Many of the trees that were planted in the city after the war were gifts from overseas donors and donors from other parts of Japan.
Hibakujumoku
However, 170 of the trees that we can enjoy in the city today had actually been in Hiroshima before the bomb was dropped and survived the bombing and the devastation that followed. After the war, many of those trees were replanted or preserved in 55 locations within a 2km radius of the hypocenter. Today, they are officially registered as A-bombed trees. Each A-bombed tree is called a hibakujumoku and is identified by a name plate.-ANT- Hiroshima News
Green Legacy Hiroshima (GLH) Initiative
The GLH Initiative is a global volunteer campaign, aiming to disseminate the universal message of trees that survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Created in 2011 by two friends, Nassrine Azimi and Tomoko Watanabe, GLH shares worldwide the double message of caution and hope that the unique survivor trees of Hiroshima (and ultimately Nagasaki) represent, recalling on the one hand the dangers of arms of mass destruction and nuclear weapons in particular, and on the other hand the sacred character of mankind and the resilience of nature. Currently seeds and saplings from the A-bombed trees are growing in more than 30 countries - in a sustained, long-term (1000-year) campaign, joining other efforts for a nuclear-free and more ecological planet.
Learn more about GLH Initiative
Introduction video Green Legacy Hiroshima
The trees that survived the bombing of Hiroshima: A Video on the Trees of Hope in Hiroshima
Read more about Trees, Mother Nature and Hope
Photo: pinterest
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In this beautiful life, there is always beauty for those who want to see it
“God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.” — Voltaire
“How much of human life is lost in waiting!” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
Photo:Well/Awake
‘Dance like no one’s is watching’
'HAPPINESS'
Fr. Alfred D'Souza
"For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, or a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life."
This perspective has helped me to see that there is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way.
So, treasure every moment that you have and treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time...and remember that time waits for no one.
So, stop waiting until you lose ten pounds, until you gain ten pounds, until you have kids, until your kids leave the house, until you start work, until you retire, until you get married, until you get divorced, until Friday night, until Sunday morning, until you get a new car or home, until your car or home is paid off, until spring, until summer, until winter, until your song comes on, until you've had a drink.... there is no better time than right now to be happy.
Happiness is a journey, not a destination.
Work like you don't need money,
Love like you've never been hurt,
And dance like no one's watching.”
More on What is Happiness? What is the Good Life?
And, yes, it is true, ‘Dance like no one’s watching’...And Be Happy!
I have experienced it myself, Todi-Week, Tuscany, Italy, 2019:
Watch the Video Celebrating the Joy of Beauty, Happiness and Friendship
Photo:RemedyGrove
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Happiness and the Good Life
A must- read book
By Mike W. Martin
Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: May 2012
Photo: Oxford Scholarship Online
'Happiness in Good Lives explores happiness as an important dimension of fully desirable lives. Happiness is defined as loving one’s life, valuing it in ways manifested by ample enjoyment and a robust sense of meaning. As such, it interacts with all other dimensions of good lives, in particular with moral decency and goodness, authenticity, mental health, self-fulfillment, and meaningfulness. The book integrates philosophical issues with topics of broad human interest, and it includes chapters on how happiness connects with the virtues, love, philanthropy, suffering, simplicity, balancing work and leisure, and politics. Happiness is a moral value, as well as a self-interested value, which we have a responsibility as well as a right to pursue. Myriad specific virtues contribute to pursuing happiness, and in turn happiness contributes to or manifests an array of virtues such as love, self-respect, gratitude, and hope. Although happiness is by no means the entirety of good lives, it helps define some additional aspects of good lives, including authenticity, self-fulfillment, meaningfulness, and mental health. It also enters into understanding what it means to live a balanced life, and also a simple life centered on what matters most. The moral status of happiness is a central concern in the history of ethics. Recent “positive psychology” has breathed new life into traditional philosophical issues, and the book draws extensively on psychological studies. It also uses myriad examples from memoirs, novels, and films. One chapter is devoted to assessing the claim of Mary Shelley’s monster in Frankenstein: “Make me happy, and I shall again be virtuous.”
CONTENTS:
1 Loving Life
2 Valuing Happiness
3 Betting on Virtue
4 Authenticity
5 Happily Self-Deceived
6 Suffering In Happy Lives
7 Paradoxes of Happiness
8 Happy To Help
9 Shared Pursuits In Love
10 Balancing Work and Leisure
11 Simplicity
12 Felicity In Frankenstein
13 Personal and Political
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Today, 30th of July, is The International Day of Friendship.
Sharing the human spirit through friendship
Photo: uniquenewsonline.com
‘Our world faces many challenges, crises and forces of division — such as poverty, violence, and human rights abuses — among many others — that undermine peace, security, development and social harmony among the world's peoples.
To confront those crises and challenges, their root causes must be addressed by promoting and defending a shared spirit of human solidarity that takes many forms — the simplest of which is friendship.
Through friendship — by accumulating bonds of camaraderie and developing strong ties of trust — we can contribute to the fundamental shifts that are urgently needed to achieve lasting stability, weave a safety net that will protect us all, and generate passion for a better world where all are united for the greater good...’- United Nations, International Day of Friendship, 30 July
A Heart-felt Thanks to All Those Who Have Inspired Me
“Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light.”- Helen Keller
“Without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods.”- Aristotle
“The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, not the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when you discover that someone else believes in you and is willing to trust you with a friendship.”- Ralph Waldo Emerson
"The circle of friendship is a place of warmth and caring where people come together for listening and sharing. A place of kindness and trust, a place of tears and laughter too. I'm glad to share that circle with a special friend like you."- Beth Stuckwisch
These beautiful and inspiring quotes very much resonate with me and are at the heart of my thanksgiving today.
‘What is Happiness? What is Friendship?
Angels in our life...Our Friends
“Friendship dances around the world announcing to all of us that we must wake up to blessedness.”
- The Vatican Collection of Epicurean Sayings
Photo: Pinterest
For me, one of the main paths to true happiness and joy is to have great friends, to be able to mentor them, to observe them and learn from them, to share stories with them, to be stretched and challenged by them, and above all, through them to reach out towards the ultimate friend, the unconditional one, when and where, healing and the truest life begins.
The world of mystical awareness is awesome indeed, when a human being can become a field of love, compassion, generosity, playfulness and hope. A true friend and a great friendship is the path to this mystical awareness, discovery and journey.
It is in this spirit that I wish to give thanks on this International Day of Friendship to all of those who have inspired, enabled and empowered me to be who I am and what I do. It is an impossible task to acknowledge them all personally. I am, forever, conscious of the debt that I owe them all, most of them went on to join the Advisory Board of the GCGI and/or also act as the GCGI Senior Ambassadors.
Once again, thank you my friends, the sources of my inspiration and strength. I cannot tell you enough how grateful I am to you all.
Friendship for ever,
In gratitude,
Kamran
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