We have come to a most interesting and crucial point in human history. A point where we find that for every hill we cross there appears another mountain on the horizon and for every wall we tear down we see another fall in our way to slow our progress. All around us there appears to be no brotherhood, no peace, and no hope.
Admittedly, there are groups of people, who are striving to oppose the forces of chaos, which threaten to consume us all. We are each faced with one undeniable, colossal problem and it is this; what cam we do to prevent the utter collapse of our society,...the end of our world as we know it?
Continually, we look around us for the answers, but it is not outside of ourselves that we will find them. We look to our "leaders" and our government and city officials, but nothing changes and we ask, Why?
The answer has been given to us repeatedly, but in looking at history we can see that those who have presented such an answer to us have been either crucified, assassinated, beaten, imprisoned or have been allotted a life being labeled eith4er religious fanatics or fools. It is not that the answer is hard to comprehend, nor is it difficult to apply. No, it is in fact quite the contrary.
The problem is not with the answer, for it itself is ludicrously simple. The problem is with us and our blindness to its power. We either believe that it cannot work or we are unwilling to try. What we must realize is that by selfishly ignoring the answer today, we are destroying the world for the children yet to come. The answer my friends, is LOVE.
There are many who have heard the silent voice that tells us of another way, but living in an extremely fast paced and cluttered world, such as we do, finding time to actually listen becomes a near impossible task. For some it is a daily struggle between the temporary ways of the world and the eternal longings of the soul. They seek brotherhood, peace, and love, but in their searching, and for various reasons, doors are closed and they find that these three things are denied them.
We must never forget that LOVE is a temple with open doors, where all are welcome to enter. No matter the color of skin, the religion subscribed to, the social status carried, or the culture we come from, we are all born of the same spirit and the LOVE which is GOD (*) accepts us all. It is that principle on which TCF bases its entire purpose for being.
It is my great and sincere hope that you will find being a member of TCF both informative and helpful in your personal journey and struggle to live a better quality of life. Not only yourself, but for all people,...a life lived with restored faith in humankind and a rekindled hope for a brighter tomorrow.
In the Light of the Spirit
Oran Emile Parker
by
Oran
E.
Parker
In late September of 1996, as I was taking an early morning walk, it became very clear to me that something had to be done. I had taken these walks many times before, my eyes and thoughts always scanning and pondering the natural landscape to my sides and the ever-changing sky above me. But on this particular day my eyes were drawn down to the roadsides. It was then that I wished my sense of sight had been denied me. There, strewn about as far as my eyes would allow me to see, was piece after disgusting piece of garbage and filth, the by-product of man's endless consumption and neglect.
Up until that point I had always found it relatively easy to see the lighter side of humanity, all the positive things that we were doing to create a better, more spiritually inclined world. However, on that day, when my eyes were drawn down to the physical world, I was revealed the dark-side of man's nature, the side that fears and hates anything tat it does not understand, and destroys anything that it cannot control.
It was more than just the blatant disrespect of the natural world on that country road that got to me. That was just the catalyst, for you see the road led to my home. Man's destruction had now invaded my life, my sanctuary. Until then, the chaos had always seemed so separate from me, but no longer. The forces of disorder had finally gain4ed ground in a place that had become sacred to me. It was apparent then that this was a problem that could no longer be ignored, but it could not be solved simply by picking up the garbage. No the root needed to be found and dealt with. Somewhere inside I knew that this was a mission of the heart. So, where as once I had taken those walks for prayer and meditation, I then began taking them to fuel my desire to make a change.
After that day, at every encounter, I began to notice that a great number of people were afraid of the future. On every front the masses were being bombarded with fear and anger. I looked at the youth, wandering through their days, never knowing or caring what their tomorrows would bring, or even worse, if there would even be a tomorrow to care about. I listened in sorrow as young couples discussed not having children because they were too afraid to raise them in, or "punish" them, by bringing them into a world slowly spiraling into despair and darkness. At each of these random encounters I saw a frightening amount of lifeless eyes, and even less hope.
Three weeks later I again returned to the country road where all of these painful thoughts had begun to form, and on that day I prayed. I prayed with more intensity and passion than I ever had before in my life. I prayed to the Creator of all things that I might be shown a way to end the madness, that I might be shown what I could do to change this shattered world. Simply put I asked for a sign,...and immediately one was given.
Something compelled me to look up from my kneeling position and just as weeks earlier my eyes had been drawn to the litter covered roadside, I was called to bring my gaze skyward, and there, as if it had descended from the realm of Heaven itself, soared a great, white crane.
It gently glided down, landing in a ditch filled with floating debris and garbage, just a few feet in front of me. There it stood for the next half-hour in perfect stillness I too remained quite and still, mesmerized by its sudden appearance and apparent lack of fear. Truly it was one of God's most amazing and beautiful creatures. Everything about it, its very presence, said, "peace, love and harmony."
then, with a graceful curve of its neck and a blur of white wings it was gone. Just as quickly as it had come into my life it had then vanished like a spirit, leaving only the ripples in the water where it had once stood as proof that it had ever actually been there.
Something was passed on to me that day. Things became clear. I knew what I had been called to do. The world was in turmoil, of that there could be no doubt, and although there appeared to be no hope it was not a reality, only an appearance of true reality. The truth was, and still is, that beyond our fear rested our salvation, and the only way to overcome such fear was by people coming together. The world could not change by simply thinking, or talking about making a difference. It was imperative that we act.
Soon after all of these things transpired, I stumbled upon a portion of a speech that had been written by a young lady named Jocelyn Brooke Hennigan. She was killed in an automobile accident in August of 1994 and had since become my most driving inspiration to live. Her words are as follows:
"If an alien were to ask me today 'how do I act when I encounter Earth and its people?' I would say... be open-minded to new ideas, make everlasting friendships, treat others as you would like to be treated, and last, stand up for what you are and what you believe in and believe in yourself and what you stand for.
In closing, we are all from different cultures, but we live in this one world. We must take care of it and its people because there is only one Earth and only one human race."
