Category Archives: Free Writting
Blausee – Romantic Forest Lake, replete with Trout
The eyes of the beautiful maiden who died of a broken heart were deep blue. The Blue Lake is also deep blue, in eternal memory of the love of the maiden, which persists beyond death. The small Blausee, steeped in legend, is located in the midst of a small nature park.
Blausee is one of the best-known mountain lakes in Switzerland. It is located in
the midst of a 20 hectare large nature park with a landscape formed by a rock
slide that led to the creation of the lake.
The lake and the special forest charmed local inhabitants and tourists early on. In 1885 Blausee was
praised in a travel guide as a “jewel of a landscape immersed in magical forest
solitude”.
UBS “Stephen Wiltshire”
Director/DP Noah David Smith recently teamed up with humble and Publicis to shoot a touching film for UBS featuring artist, Stephen Wiltshire. After spending the early years of his life as a mute Stephen found his voice through drawing. Later diagnosed with autism, drawing began to be the way he communicated with the world. At age nine he began to speak and his art continued to flourish.
Stephen has the amazing talent of drawing city skylines from memory. Having spent only a few hours in a helicopter flying from Brooklyn to the tip of Manhattan, he memorized the city skyline and headed back to a studio to begin his drawing. Stephen then spent the next 3 days sketching the skyline. The panoramic drawing will be featured on a billboard that will be displayed at JFK airport terminal
The piece speaks to the vision of the UBS campaign “We will not rest”.
The Board Of Wisdom
Life is not Measured by the number of Breaths we take
But by the moments that take our Breaths Away !!
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.
Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.
Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking.
The road to success is not straight. There is a curb called Failure, a loop called Confusion; speed bumps called Friends; red lights called Enemies;caution lights called Family. You will have flats called jobs. But, if you have a spare called Determination; an engine called Perseverance, and a driver called Faith, you will make it to a place called Success!!
Treat Others The way You Treated
In this time where wars of the world seem so prevalent is it true that the majority of the world wants war?
The basis of every religion, simply put is this: Treat Others The Way You Want to be Treated or “Do unto to Others as you Would have Them do unto You.”
Love One Another
Treating people the way we want to be treated starts with love, respect and understanding.
Loving each other and honour differences considering what a big world we come from, is a tall order or is it?
We should be in awe of the differences that are apparent in our cultures, eagerly learning what we have to offer one another in terms of knowledge, languages, methodologies in problem solving, community life, family life and survival in different landscapes; but we’re not.
As a human race, if we all treated each other with this philosophy there would be no war, no violence, no starvation, no thirst, no homeless and no one would be unloved: it’s against this philosophy of mutual kindness and respect that at one point in most of our lives all we have been taught or exposed to.
It is with sadness in my heart that I watch or don’t watch, as a small part of the the human race instead chooses to be violent, hateful, selfish, greedy and moves forward with revenge and jealousy in their hearts.
This part of the population that has controlled the violent, negative behaviours found within our society has been taught another set of principles: they come first: the individual is more important and significant than the sum of the whole world population.
This population that controls our world, with or without the support of the majority of world populations, are the leaders of the world .
Today’s world leaders are so focused on maintaining and gaining control of the natural resources from around the world, that they are the ones who have forgotten this life lesson taught to them in their youth.
Source: eye say
Brazil’s Child River Traders
There is a unique and dangerous commerce system at work in Amazonia, where children risk their lives for a few pennies.
There is a unique commerce system at work along the narrowest stretch of the Tajaparu River in Amazonia, northern Brazil.
This is where the boats pass close to the shore and it is the best place for the small canoes selling sweets and jams to do their business.
The children who operate the canoes weave in and out among the boats, shouting directions and warnings to one another as the propellers of ferries churn just below them. They then climb aboard in a bid to sell their wares to the ferry passengers.
The best-selling item is the ingas, a jungle fruit that is only found around this stretch of the river and which is much in demand among the ferry passengers. But it is a dangerous harvest. The ingas is only found at the top of some trees, often more than 30 metres above ground. Four ingas sell for one real, barely $0.25.
Santos, the captain of the Bom Jesus, is worried about just how young some of the children who climb aboard his ferry are.
“I keep a list of all the children’s names. There seems to be more of them lately,” Santos explains. “There are so many now, especially little ones, less than six years old, on their own.”
About a dozen canoes attach themselves to the Bom Jesus as it approaches the shore, but the captain must maintain his speed as he has a schedule to keep to.
Brazilian law holds a river captain responsible in the case of accidents.
“I let the authorities know about them, because it’s dangerous what they do, especially at night,” he says. “I tell them not to do it at night. By day, it’s okay.”
‘Sometimes we eat, sometimes we don’t’
Fourteen-year-old Jesse is among those who risk death just to make a few pennies.
The little money Jesse brings home is a small contribution to his family’s income. His family of 12 adults and 16 children live in a house on stilts over the water. Theirs is a life that revolves entirely around the river.
Jesse’s mother, Benedicta, wakes him up each morning to work the river boats.
“My husband’s too old to work now,” Benedicta explains. “Sometimes we get up in the morning and there’s nothing to eat for the whole day.
“We hope there’ll be something for the next day. That’s the way it is here; sometimes we eat, and sometimes we don’t.”
In the Amazonian basin, the rivers are the main arteries for virtually everything. The waterways are a constant ebb and flow of people and trade, with barges forming the public transport system – bus, train and tram all rolled into one.
The passenger ferries – 1,500 tonnes of iron and steel travelling at 30km an hour – are the hardest ships to board. But Jesse knows the safest place to board is in the bow, far from the dangerous eddies at the stern.
The trickiest are the merchant ships and barges, whose crews are much less accommodating and do not tolerate the children climbing on board.
But the crews have good reason to be cautious. In recent months incidents of piracy have increased on the river. Bandits, who hold the merchant boats at gunpoint during the night, use the same type of canoes as the children.
The river traders of Brazil follows Jesse, but his is a story that ends in tragedy. The youngster turns to piracy and is shot dead by the captain of a river barge during an attempted robbery.
But, as this film shows, life and trade on the river goes on. And for the children of this area, there is little alternative.
The cab ride
I received this heartfelt story by email and decided to share it with u.
I arrived at the address and honked the horn.
after waiting a few minutes
I walked to the
door and knocked.. ‘Just a minute’, answered a frail, elderly voice. I could hear something
being dragged across the floor.
After
a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her 90′s stood before me. She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on it, like somebody out of a 1940′s movie.
By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had lived in it for years. All the furniture was covered with sheets.
There were no clocks on the walls, no knickknacks or utensils on the counters. In the corner was a cardboard box filled with photos and glassware..
‘Would you carry my bag out to the car?’ she said. I took the suitcase to the cab, then returned to assist the woman.
She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the curb.
She kept thanking me for my kindness. ‘It’s nothing’, I told her.. ‘I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother to be treated.’
‘Oh, you’re such a good boy, she said. When we got in the cab, she gave me an address and then asked, ‘Could you drive through downtown?’
‘It’s not the shortest way,’ I answered quickly..
‘Oh, I don’t mind,’ she said. ‘I’m in no hurry. I’m on my way to a hospice.
I looked in the rear-view mirror. Her eyes were glistening. ‘I don’t have any family left,’ she continued in a soft
voice.. ‘The doctor says I don’t have very long.’ I quietly reached over and shut off the meter.
‘What route would you like me to take?’ I asked.
For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked as an
elevator operator.
We drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived when they were newlyweds. She had me pull up in
front of a furniture warehouse that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.
Sometimes she’d ask me to slow in front of a particular building or corner and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.
As the first hint of sun was creasing the horizon, she suddenly said, ‘I’m tired. Let’s go now’.
We drove in silence to the address she had given me. It was a low building, like a small convalescent home, with a driveway that passed under a portico.
Two orderlies came out to the cab as soon as we pulled up. They were solicitous and intent, watching her every move.
They must have been expecting her.
I opened the trunk and took the small suitcase to the door. The woman was already seated in a wheelchair.
‘How much do I owe you?’ She asked, reaching into her purse.
‘Nothing,’ I said.
‘You have to make a living,’ she answered.
‘There are other passengers,’ I responded.
Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly.
‘You gave an old woman a little moment of joy,’ she said ‘Thank you.’
I squeezed her hand, and then walked into the dim morning light.. Behind me, a door shut. It was the sound
of the closing of a life..
I didn’t pick up any more passengers that shift. I drove aimlessly lost in thought. For the rest of that day, I could hardly talk. What if that woman had gotten an angry driver, or one who was impatient to end his shift?
What if I had refused to take the run, or had honked once, then driven away?
On a quick review, I don’t think that I have done anything more important in my life.
We’re conditioned to think that our lives revolve around great moments.
But great
moments often catch us unaware-beautifully
wrapped in what others may consider a small
one.
PEOPLE MAY NOT REMEMBER EXACTLY
WHAT YOU DID, OR WHAT YOU SAID ~BUT~THEY WILL
ALWAYS REMEMBER HOW YOU MADE THEM FEEL.
