One Geek

I refuse to accept the idea that man is mere flotsom and jetsom in the river of life unable to influence the unfolding events which surround him. I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality.

I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruction. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant.

I believe that even amid today’s motor bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow. I believe that wounded justice, lying prostrate on the blood-flowing streets of our nations, can be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of men.

I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down, men other-centered can build up. I still believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive goodwill will proclaim the rule of the land.

“And the lion and the lamb shall lie down together and every man shall sit under his own vine and fig tree and none shall be afraid.”

I still believe that we shall overcome.

This faith can give us courage to face the uncertainties of the future. It will give our tired feet new strength as we continue our forward stride toward the city of freedom. When our days become dreary with low-hovering clouds and our nights become darker than a thousand midnights, we will know that we are living in the creative turmoil of a genuine civilization struggling to be born.

Today I come to Oslo as a trustee, inspired and with renewed dedication to humanity. I accept this prize on behalf of all men who love peace and brotherhood. I say I come as a trustee, for in the depths of my heart I am aware that this prize is much more than an honor to me personally.

Every time I take a flight I am always mindful of the man people who make a successful journey possible — the known pilots and the unknown ground crew.

So you honor the dedicated pilots of our struggle who have sat at the controls as the freedom movement soared into orbit. You honor, once again, Chief (Albert) Luthuli of South Africa, whose struggles with and for his people, are still met with the most brutal expression of man’s inhumanity to man.

You honor the ground crew without whose labor and sacrifices the jet flights to freedom could never have left the earth.

Most of these people will never make the headlines and their names will not appear in Who’s Who. Yet when years have rolled past and when the blazing light of truth is focused on this marvelous age in which we live — men and women will know and children will be taught that we have a finer land, a better people, a more noble civilization — because these humble children of God were willing to suffer for righteousness’ sake.

I think Alfred Nobel would know what I mean when I say that I accept this award in the spirit of a curator of some precious heirloom which he holds in trust for its true owners — all those to whom beauty is truth and truth beauty — and in whose eyes the beauty of genuine brotherhood and peace is more precious than diamonds or silver or gold.

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

So much bad in the world, so many good people I know.
There is just no choice any more we must overcome, and soon.
More and better aid.
More and better disaster relief.
More and better justice.
More and better peace.
More and better love.

Because without these we are stuffed.
I can’t put into words my frustration and my joy at knowing good stuff is happening. If you want some of the less depressing news then look at TEAR’s site.

Seriously though:

Nagaland
Burma
China
Tibet
Uganda
Kenya
Iraq
Iran
Afghanistan
Indigenous Australia
Haiti
Congo
the list is just too long.

I do believe that with God on our side, we shall overcome.

1.

We shall overcome
We shall overcome
We shall overcome some day
CHORUS:

Oh, deep in my heart
I do believe
We shall overcome some day
2.

We’ll walk hand in hand
We’ll walk hand in hand
We’ll walk hand in hand some day
CHORUS

3.

We shall all be free
We shall all be free
We shall all be free some day
CHORUS

4.

We are not afraid
We are not afraid
We are not afraid some day
CHORUS

5.

We are not alone
We are not alone
We are not alone some day
CHORUS

6.

The whole wide world around
The whole wide world around
The whole wide world around some day
CHORUS

7.

We shall overcome
We shall overcome
We shall overcome some day
CHORUS

Looks like Dimapur has erupted again, if you don’t mind being more depressed read more here.

My trip to Sydney was good. It is no longer home, but remains a place holding some people who are very dear to me. I had some wonderful connections and chats with people particularly at Emily and Martin’s house warming.

Now I am back home in Melbourne, and about to leave for work.

Waiting now for my flight to Sydney. Pretty tired.

Parts of Monday really did feel West Wing like. Pretty cool now that I think about it, trying to work out the “message” we needed to get out and how. I am also so privileged to work with the wonderful people I do. People in the response group inspire me almost and possibly as much as Jed Bartlett. I hope to be that good one day.

At the moment I have been balancing the roles of IT Manger, Developer, IT support, database administrator and a touch of donor management . Add these plus an emergency and you get an idea of how busy I have been this past week or so.

Tonight I had a party, which turned into a most pleasant and wonderful combination of two people from my two current Melbourne worlds.

Tomorrow I fly down up to Sydney for a meeting with my supervisor about my thesis. I’ll be there until Sunday morning. My thesis doesn’t seem to be quite as important when in my work I am dealing with more and bigger issues then any one academic paper could hope to grasp.

Tamas a TEAR fieldworker tells his story. I did my fieldworker training with Tamas, and I had last seen him in the TEAR office only a few weeks ago. It is a strange world.

There are also some other eye witness accounts here.

None of these accounts come from the areas hit the worst. Those stories will come latter I am sure. Please if you are the praying type, remember these people in your prayers.

Pray too that the Burmese junta lets in the large scale aid.

One of the great privileges of working for TEAR Australia is being able to be part of some of the first response stuff for emergency appeals.

For those who don’t know more then 15,000 people have died because of the cyclone. For more news read here.

TEAR are partnered with some NGO’s working within Burma, and five fieldworkers in the area. We have an emergency appeal up now at our website. Please do give something to it if you can.

Next week on Wednesday I’m off to Sydney for a meeting with my supervisor, then doing some work at TEAR Sydney Thursday and possibly Friday, before returning home to Melbourne on Sunday.

I’m also off to Alice on the 4th of June for a few days of study and catching up with Ketih and Stella.

I had so much fun hanging out with Sam and Jenn. I think they both rock a lot.

Now though I am getting to crunch time with my capstone. Have until June 20 to finish it all off. I’m hopefully going to go and sit in the Alice Springs for a few days just working on that in a few weeks which will be nice.

How can it be that even when I have fallen so very far from grace, I find it waiting right next to me when I awake?

Sam, and his girlfriend are almost here. I’m meeting them in a few minutes, they are here until Saturday.

Then Mum and Dad are coming on Sunday and Monday.

Then Lesley might be coming soon too.

Yay for people.

Well so far I think I have worked seven straight days, and that’s included 4 days I should of had off.

I have though got a lot of good stuff done, including an email server migration, that until the headaches Monday will surely bring, has gone very smoothly. Took a lot longer to copy emails between servers, but that’s OK.

Next week I am hopefully going to have a five day weekend, and I have Sam and Jenn coming to visit for three of those days. It’s going to be super fun to hang out.

I did take a break last night to cook some food, I made a mushroom subji, which actually wasn’t too bad for a first attempt. I love mushrooms, though I’m not into the magic kind.

Life is going well here in Melbourne but I need to get me some friends. I think I’ll go steal some from work, and steal some from Gem. Anyone else know where I can find me some friends in this city?

My Lord God
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really understand myself.

And the fact that I think I am following
Your will does not mean I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you
Does in fact please you.

And I hope I have the desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the
right road though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore will I trust you always though I may
seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear for you are ever with me and
you will never leave me to face my troubles alone.

Thomas Merton