On this holy day in the Jewish religion i offer a simple prayer,
Dear Lord,
Grant me the wisdom to convince millions of people to prepare for the coming pandemic.
Grant me the strength to keep up my efforts in the face of great resistance.
Grant me the patience to explain myself endlessly.
Grant me the courage to face the grand ridicule hurled at me daily.
Grant me some more time for me to accomplish this great work.
And Lord, if you grant me these things, i promise to save as many lives as I can.
AMEN!
AMEN!
Me too, Dear Lord, AMEN, and p.s……..thank you for this life, bless us all.
I think that this applies to those who belong to all religions.
Goju, may God bless you and your family, the FW community and all others.
Thank you for the post.
Mike
CAMike. Thanks. With respect to the Moslem, Hindu, Krishna, Christian, Jewish, Bahai etc. faith (I would mention Buddhism but I don’t think they have a God)…we are all worshipping the same God…and when we get to the pearly gates she/he is going to say…what the hell were you all fighting about?
I tend to follow Native North Americans…my God is Mother Nature…I spend a lot of time at church. /:0)
God bless you all…or I guess I should say Mother Nature bless you all.
and by the way…thanks Goju, I’ve been wanting to say that for some time.
A very Happy New Year to you Go!
Gogu,
I think you should be credited with having written “The Prepper’s Credo”. Well done and Amen.
Dr Dave – at 17:16 I think you should be credited with having written “The Prepper’s Credo”.
Not for we atheists. :) But Goju’s sentiments are good ones, nonetheless.
Thanks Edna. People who presume that we all worship a God make me cross. We should keep religion off this site
(Tom DVM’s rang a bell, too)
Universe, may more beings be well and happy. Help us all do better.
We’ll need Luck, to make up for lack of wisdom as a species…
if you grant me these things, i promise to?
And also,
Tom DVM I spend a lot of time at church :)
Edna Mode and Felicia: I am an existential humanist (athiest with a purpose), but I can still appreciate the sentiments of others who do not share my views, especially when they are noble ones. Could you, perhaps, look beyond the term “Lord” and see if you don’t share some of the same altruisitic concerns for humanity as Goju has expressed?
I’m agnostic, but The Serenity Prayer is the kind of wisdom I can embrace:
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference
That last one? I need that almost every day!
PS - I am not religious… But given the coming horror… and the day… i thought it was appropriate.
i went to a Rosh Hashanna dinner party tonite and met a smart TV guy from nearby. we talked for over an hour. We cried, and laughed and my wish for him was to join me in my mission to save lives. I pray he will contact me soon and do his tv thing to spread the word.
I also talked about Panflu with 4 other guys there - one had read The Great Influenza and when i started… his engine started racing overtime explaining all Pandemic flu. He kept the others busy while i had my way with the TV guy.
I mean what I say. Every home prepped is the only way for us all to survive.
Tomorrow is Emergency prep day in Wilton. I asked the Fire Chief if he would teach me how to use a fire extinguisher - his eyes lite up when i said we all need to know since candles will be used if the power goes out. I can’t wait!
Anon_22
“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference”
I say Damn the torpedos - full speed ahead!!!
I am going to make a difference. I will change the things that “cannot be changed”. PERIOD.
It takes just one person with one idea to change the world.
Goju:
I admire your courage and your heart!
“People who presume that we all worship a God make me cross. We should keep religion off this site”
People who can’t tolerate even as mild a refenerce as this to whatever a person/people believe will get him/her/them through what we are facing- make me cross- and I tire of reading statements expressing that lack of tolerance.
I’m not christian, I’m Wiccan. Though I really think all Goddesses and Gods are One in the end. I also lean toward the teachings and beliefs of the North Americans and also spend a great deal of time “in church”. But I sure can appreciate the sentiment and good wishes for all mankind that Goju experssed in the opening post. How can we expect to work together to save ourselves if even such a small refenerce can ruffle feathers. We need all the help we can get and positive mindset is half the battle. If a prayer to one’s higher power accomplishes that I’m all for it. Please - those of you who are against all mention of religion- might try to accept that many people beieve in some higher power and they have as much right to call on that power for strength, especially in such stressful times, as you have to ignore those calls.
- if you don’t like what’s on TV or the radio- change the channel- don’t censor the rest of us. You have a choice -ie- you don’t have to read whatever you don’t like. No one is forcing you to read anything on the Wiki. With a title like Dear Lord- you are given the opportunity right up front, to completely disregard the entire thread. Or you can choose to just skip over the “offending” parts and glean the positive helpful parts. We need to work together regardless of beliefs, or lack there of. A Wiccan well-wish to all - Blessed Be.
Sorry, That was me
Goju,
But knowing the difference will drastically increase your success rate, though. :-)
Or, take the path of least resistance. They all lead to the same spot, eventually.
Cinda at 21:38, very insightful and well said. Thank you!
Dr Dave – at 18:06 Edna Mode and Felicia: I am an existential humanist (athiest with a purpose), but I can still appreciate the sentiments of others who do not share my views, especially when they are noble ones. Could you, perhaps, look beyond the term “Lord” and see if you don’t share some of the same altruisitic concerns for humanity as Goju has expressed?
Dr. Dave, you sure do get a lot from a mere 11 words. What in my brief post would lead you to conclude that I (and other atheists) don’t share some of the same altruistic concerns for humanity as Goju expressed? In fact, if you look at my original post, you will see that I devoted seven out of the 11 words to state that Goju’s sentiments are good ones. The implication that I or other atheists are without purpose, while perhaps unintentional on your part, is nonetheless implied and rather offensive. Again, I’m sure that wasn’t your intention.
I have long held that, while religion is not my cup of tea (and it ain’t for wont of trying it after spending the first half of my life as a rather devout Catholic), I respect that others find comfort and support through religion. And yup, I absolutely can see past the word “Lord,” but I do feel it is important to acknowledge that there are those among us—here on this wiki, on the street, at the grocery, wherever—who choose to place their faith in themselves and humanity rather than in something outside of the self.
i have always wondered what it would take to stop our stupid habit of killing each other for our minor differences, genetically and phenotypically, a gene hear a gene there…skin colour, hair colour, eye shape…or religion.
As a veterinarian, I am afraid to say that I always visualized an asteroid coming 5 years later that would force mankind to work together…
…I should have known the unifying force would be disease.
Amen.
Thanks Goju, I’ve been keeping up with the info you gathered at the meeting, your conversation with Dr. Nabarro, and your reporting of the details. I’ve gained alot watching your postings. It’s inspiring to watch your “if not me than who” attitude and the success your having at getting the right chain of events happening.
Heartfelt thanks to all of you who work so hard to educate us all. I’m learning from all of you. We are lucky to have you here. Taught me how to prep and gave me access to bird flu news and scientific info on it.
I think it is so wonderful that we have such a diverse group here and we all get along…we are the model I have been looking for…
I get my strength from every one of you and only want to give it back.
WE can make a difference. We can save lives. That is what this is becoming about.
Edna Mode:
Thank you for the elaboration on your sentiments. No offense intended. I just wanted to be sure that people did not detract from Goju’s sentiments over a single word. All too often I have noted that people with strong convictions tend to overreact to certain triggers. You know, like the slogan on our currency, or the addition of “under god” in the pledge. I tend to be one of those people, “finding quarrel in a straw”, as Hamlet would say, especially when someone feels obligated to defer to some out-of-self force, motivator, or judge. (Does every sneeze have to become a miniature exorcism?)
Ordinarily, I would be the first to pick on someone for any invocation of the supernaural to do battle biology on our behalf, but Goju’s “prayer” was merely a clever parody of the serenity prayer, and I certainly identified with the frustration Goju expressed. I did not interpret the prayer as a call for aid, so I did not find it offensive. What I really saw was my own personal dilemma. Rather than endure the frustration, the rejection, and the implicit ridicule every time I try to rally someone to begin prepping, it would be so much easier not to care about people.
This is a very difficult mission we are on and sometimes we need to care for the missionaries, too.
I hold all religion and lack of religion sacred. I am the first mentioned right in the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, called the Bill of Rights.
I hold your words sacred. I am the second mentioned right in the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, called the Bill of Rights.
I hold your free press (including this wiki) sacred. I am the third mentioned right in the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, called the Bill of Rights.
Felicia at 17:30
You should be more tolerant of others as they are of you.
Why is it, that the very same people who most loudly demand tolerance and respect for their own beliefs find it imperative to quiet anyone who doesn’t share their views?
Are we in danger of creating a monster? Goju, what you have done is fantastic but I sense that you are getting a bit carried away. Threads like this are off-putting to new people and occasional visitors like me. I mention this purely because I don’t want people to be put off when they visit the site. On initial visits, at first sight of some of the threads, you (posters) did indeed seem like nut-jobs - as someone posits in another thread. I know that this is not true but I would suggest that now would be a good time to take stock and think about your very real talents in helping people instead of letting the emotion take over. Some of your other most recent posts don’t do you justice.
Thanks for all the input. This was clearly well meant, but this is why we prfer to not discuss religion, politics and a few other topics. See Forum rules.
Thanks, all!
Visitor, I have to agree with your sentiment that we might be straying a bit, but it is so very difficult to remain passive while preparing for this pandemic. Emotionally, I am quite often on the verge of becoming completely unglued by the prospect of losing my family. You see, I have two children who are in the lower end of the demographic for a “cytokine storm” and my wife is on the upper end. I have done everything possible to learn about the pandemic and to prepare for supply chain disruptions and all that, but I have nightmares about events that I can not control.
As I review the postings under other topic headings, such as “Achilles Heel” I see that there are a lot of people who are searching for guidance and reassurance, but can only find it through their personal preparation efforts. Unfortunately, that is cold comfort to anyone who realizes that they might some day have to watch helplessly as one or more of their family members dies of suffocation right in their own bed.
I’m sorry if this seems like a digression. Maybe we need a new discussion thread for this subject.