If you are like me, for the past two months you have been having trouble concentrating on your daily tasks due to worries and concerns about the people of Iraq. After all, on a deep soul level they are our brothers and sisters and part of our universal family, and they are being severely harmed and killed. I find it appalling in this day and age that we, as a human race, still engage in these barbaric and inhumane acts of violence against our own kind, and against the land. Iraq, once known as Mesopotamia, was the birthplace–the cradle–of civilization and now the land is contaminated with plutonium and depleted uranium, which remains active for eons and causes cancers. Is this a way to treat our siblings and our Earth? Why some people refer to the US as a "super power" is beyond me. To me their violent, illegal, and immoral actions in Iraq point out their weakness, their fear, their greed, and their cowardice, and not their strength. World domination is apparently what is behind all their war madness and aggression. And from my research it appears the US won't be satisfied with dominating the Earth, they intend to control and dominate space as well. What grand ideas they have!

Thank goodness the general population of our planet won't let this destruction and chaos carry on. The power is in the people. There are more of us than there are of the few people controlling the strings at the top and we must continue to speak up and make our voices heard. We must say, "Enough! We won't tolerate this torture and murder any longer! We want equality and justice for everyone!" The peace rallies and marches being held around the world are phenomenal. Just recently I scrolled through a website which showed hundreds of thousands of people in countries all over the world protesting this war on April 12th, just one of the many days of protest that have been happening. I felt very empowered and heartened after seeing my fellow-humans all speaking out in protest against war and violence towards humanity. The majority of people on the planet want peace and justice and an end to all war. In order for this to happen, however, we must keep speaking up, we must not let our spirits and our voices subside and be silent. We need to join together and know that united our voices have much power, real "super power."

When we listen to and read the mainstream media news we can become disheartened. I think this is because their reports tend to be based on propaganda that the "so-called" leaders want us to hear. Often these reports are distorted and sometimes full of outright lies. So instead I suggest you find alternative sources of information that are not censored and that give very different perspectives on local and world events. That's what I have been doing and the information is much more real and honest.

An innovative Canadian named Stephen Bradley, of BC, has been thinking about ways to help the world be a more peaceful place and he has come up with the idea of Canada joining the EU ("Earth Union"). I think his viewpoint (p. 22) is very creative and certainly worth considering so we have included it in this issue.

Kahlee Keane's years of experience connecting to the Earth are echoed in her article, Song to the Earth (p. 10). She talks about times in the past when people actually ate the Earth for both spiritual reasons and dietary and subsistence reasons. She points out that sadly today we dare not eat the Earth due to widespread pollution, however, she does add that, " …‘clays' sold in health food stores do provide us with a culturally concealed and much needed taste for the ‘sweet earth.'"

How can you help keep the Earth and the environment clean and pollution-free? Olin Valby has come up with the perfect answer — the Saskatoon Community Bicycle Program (p. 14). According to Valby and the program coordinators, "We aim to place a fleet of brightly painted community bicycles within Saskatoon, free for all to use. Each bicycle will have a placard both identifying it as a community bicycle and giving the bike program's phone number." Valby describes a number of other community-related opportunities that are also part of this program and it seems the benefits are unlimited!

Our Earth is undergoing great changes, as are we, the inhabitants. May we remain true to our common goal of "goodness for all." On this 8th anniversary of WHOLifE Journal I am grateful to everyone for another wonderful year.

Namaste!
(I honour the Divine in you!)