Categories
life spirituality

Winning the Lifeform Lottery

Among millions of living possibilities, we have somehow been granted this opportunity to be a human being. Sure we humans tally in the billions, but do you realize that for each one of us during the span of our lifetime there will be perhaps 100 billion other non-human living beings (not even counting bacteria, viruses, […]

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favorites life nepal thailand

In Search of Beauty in a Challenging World

I’m currently in Kathmandu, Nepal where I’m making my annual pilgrimage of sorts to Nepal Orphans Home, a charity I serve, where I do my best to be supportive and make my presence worthwhile. It’s always been my happy place here, and in this my sixth year of coming here, it still is. Yet I […]

Categories
diet ethics

The Great Animal Holocaust

Today we are living through and largely partaking in what I believe will someday come to be known as The Great Animal Holocaust. As a global society, we eat the flesh of animals as part of our diets. Some regions, groups, and individuals, including myself, may choose otherwise, but by and large we consume animals […]

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Eastern Europe

VIsiting Auschwitz

I went to Auschwitz and Birkenau today, and it was a challenging experience. I hated my guide. It was a hot day here in Poland and the trip over in a minivan with 6 other backpacker-types already proved challenging. Feeling anxious, my heart was beating fast and I was imagining myself being transported to the […]

Categories
Eastern Europe

Leaving for Auschwitz

I leave for Auschwitz in an hour. Even that sentence has an ominous quality, as if I’m going there not as a visitor but as a Jewish captive and can hear the trains rolling in on the tracks and there is a bustle about of people and suitcases, children and old people with canes. I’m […]