The O-town Scene - Oneonta, NY
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/26855
Keep Up Now! Get back to the Source “Let your mind be of spirit and your body be still. I am only steward to these revelations. I trust my intellect unto those who will soon be left, to carry through, to their purpose true; to share, to care, to comfort one another.” – Rob Ludwig Recently, I lost sight of my Source. Throughout my lifelong quest for truth and understand- ing I have endeavored to maintain knowledge gained through my lessons. An attentive student, I make a point to remember experiences and spiritual insight gained and have vowed never to repeat lessons, generally because they were incredibly distressing. Furthermore, like many students, I have reached plateaus during the course of my studies and felt a general sense of contentment and well-being. However, I have learned the paradox; when we “think” we know, we place a barrier between ourselves and the Source of our true understanding. As soon as we think we “know,” peace and understanding depart because we have aban- doned the Teacher of Peace. We have cut ourselves off from our Source and have lost our inherent power to “be.” To “be” powerful and creative, we must allow ourselves to be used as a conduit through which divine understanding flows. In this way, the mighty works derived from the universe are available to us, through us. We are powerful beyond measure because creation is our God given inheritance, but only if we keep the channels to those gifts open. When we think we “know,” our ego mind takes over, sepa- rating us from our Source. How do we correct this? The answer is simply to just be. Be grateful, be an instrument and be Love. Allow understanding to flow through us as divine miracles from our Source, not as misguided manifestations derived from our ego based mind. Our strength comes from our ability to be humble and open to allowing truth, power and wisdom to flow through us, not from us directly from the Source. Subsequently, you must share these divine gifts with your brothers, because it is only in sharing them that you will recog- nize their power. It is impossible to deny the Source of effects so powerful _ they could not be of you. Your strength stems from your ability to be a conduit for Love. “Keep up Now! with the stream of higher consciousness and stay connected to the Source.” _Terry Ludwig Terry Ludwig’s brother, Rob, passed away in 2004 after bat- tling AIDS. Before he passed, he shared his message. “Keep Up Now!” is the result of that communication. She can be reached at keepupnow@gmail.com, and followed on Twitter and Facebook. Have an idea for a Diversity Scene column? E-mail editor@otownscene.com March 10, 2011 O-Town Scene 25 Stop Anti-Gay Bullying in Schools Our area school district had its second annual “Community Day” at the high school and our gay advocacy organization, Pennsylvania Diversity Net- work, was invited to have a table along with 50 other diverse community organizations. We decided, in the light of the recent attention to suicides, to seek commitments to fight anti-gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender bullying and hate-language in schools. The key is to be direct. If we don’t address LGBT bullying by name, it will be left out. Here’s How to Fight Homophobic Bullying and Hate Language in your school: NAME IT Saying “That’s so gay” is homophobic hate language. EDUCATE Explain that saying anti-LGBT words is demeaning and insulting to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people and their friends and family. And teach LGBT history and civil rights in school curriculum. CREATE AND FOLLOW POLICY Adopt and impose policy from grade school to high school that specifically prohibit anti- LGBT hate language, with named consequences, both for those who use it and for those in authority who fail to stop it. Nearly every adult signed up and were absolutely in favor of fighting anti-gay bullying in schools. They said so in no uncertain terms. There were also hundreds of teenagers at the event. We weren’t asking underage people to sign anything, but we did ask them to pledge to never say “that’s so gay” again. Some young people told us they never said it, others agreed to never say it again, and some hesitated while thinking. While we don’t expect every teen to actually never use the word gay in a pejorative way again, at least every young person we talked to thought carefully about how they used these words. Some, perhaps, for the first time. Using anti-gay language in schools, even if the child has no idea how hurtful it is, opens the door to anti-LGBT bullying. Hearing gay used derogatorily allows young people to grow up thinking anti-LGBT discrimination is OK. To change attitudes, we have to start at a young age. _ Liz Bradbury Liz Bradbury is the executive director of Pennsylvania Diversity Network, the largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender advocacy organization in Pennsylvania. Bradbury has been working as a gay community advo- cate for 32 years and has led effort to pass equality laws and has written over 400 published LGBT rights articles and essays. For more information on Pennsylvania Diversity Network, visit www.padiversity.org. Guest Column the Diversity Scene March 10-16