IS THE UNIVERSE A FRIENDLY PLACE OR NOT?

The universe has a sense of humor. Recently I had read that Albert Einstein, when asked to identify the most important question in life, said, "Is the universe a friendly place or not?" Shortly, after reading the question on which I was going to reflect, my computer began dinging, the equivalent of you’ve got mail. It is the beginning of the semester where I teach part time and as with every semester, students are stressed because something has not come in yet. This normally means that either their financial aid has not come in or the books they ordered online have not come in yet.

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COMPASSION AND WORLD FARMING

Years ago, I remember a Wendy’s commercial with these three older women looking at a burger and saying, “where’s the beef?” Today the question is not where the beef is, but where does it comes from?. I have been thinking a lot about compassion the last few weeks. One of the questions I have been grappling with is when are the times I have not been able to be as compassionate as I would like.  It started when I began to make a list of “missed opportunities” to show compassion to others. I realized that one of my behaviors was the choices I was making about what food I purchased. In my head, I agree with the farm to table mentality and want to buy nothing but organic and grass fed, farm raised protein products. I have watched and shown my students too many videos on the factory farm and the inhumane treatment of animals.

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