Reading through the "Lent without Borders" email today and the theme this year for Lent is "Love that Heals and Empowers." Dr. Evrard Nahimana has chosen "solidarity" as his topic of value today. What came to my mind was the United Nations. Formed after the Second World War it was meant to be and is a place for everyone to talk. As one of the founding members, Canada my country, I learned as a child that this was to be the organization that would save mankind. With 51 members initially who attended the 1945 Conference in San Francisco it now has 193 members which is most of the sovereign states of the world. The United States of America gave land on Manhattan Island and declared it an international site which they have honoured to this day. It was to have world peace that we, the founders, established the United Nations. The Objectives of the United Nations include maintaining international peace and security but we always need buy-in to have that happen. And so once again we sit on the sidelines as the people of Ukraine are butchered in the name of Nazi Psychopathic Russian greed (the Ukrainians have a right to their freedom; to self determination). But Dr. Nahimana reminds us that the solidarity that is being discussed rejects blaming or judgment. Deep in my heart I do blame the Nazi Psychopathic Putin and his enablers for all the deaths in Ukraine and it will be hard to step back and once again when the war is done and peace restored to our world and the criminals prosecuted for their wrongs then God will help us to forgive. Knowing that gives hope because hate destroys.
Although China is a supporter of Russia; China could also be a peace maker that preserves our world if they so choose. We are at a precipice as we wait and watch. Thank you Dr. Nahimana for your words of wisdom and for reminding us that this Lent the theme is "Love that Heals and Empowers."
Rudyard Kipling's poem always comes to mind in times of conflict:
The Ballad of East and West
Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,
Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God's great Judgment Seat;
But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,
When two strong men stand face to face, though they come from the ends of the earth!
We can do this World; we can have peace but the price is so very high every time.
One day of cleaning and the second is today. There is a calming effect in cleaning. Something that needs to be done. I take it in lengths of fourty five minutes and then a rest for thirty minutes. At 77 one can not keep up strenuous labour for long periods. In between my research which yesterday included going through the Hundreds of Devon Subsidy of 1524-7 looking at all the names and collecting the ones that interest me as well as understanding my Pencombe ancestors. Again at Gidleigh, Chagford and Tedburn St Mary in the Wonford Hundred I found the Tencombe and Tynkeham families. Also located on the Protestation Returns, this family is said to have derived its name from the River Teign and comb refers to valley in old English. So once again I will pass by this group and see them as an independent family line. It is interesting that the two spellings occur Tencombe and Tynkeham much the same as Pencombe and Pynkeham in the 1542 Devon Lay Subsidy.
Breakfast awaits and one wonders will I ever tire of cooked oats. Probably not I am a person of habit. It is very appealing to have my oats cooked in milk with cranberries and raisins, then wheat germ, wheat bran, chocolate and blueberries added in at the end of the cooking. I look for it every day. Edward preferred just the oats cooked in mostly water to which he would add a heaping spoonful of brown sugar and perhaps some fruit. But not every day, he liked variety.
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