An international union? About time

If a merger of two British unions go through, the new Amicus and its American and German unions with which it has alliances would have a combined membership of more than 7.5 million members. A full merger of manufacturing unions in three of the largest economies of the world (including No. 1 and 3) would be huge.

Derek Simpson, general secretary of Amicus, said: “Our aim is to create a powerful single union that can transcend borders to challenge the global forces of capital. I envisage a functioning, if loosely federal, multinational trade union organisation within the next decade.”

Here’s hoping that Derek Simpson is right. The decline of First World trade unionism needs to be reversed and fast.

And now for 2007 …

In a previous post, I offered readers here a chance to vote on their assessment of how 2006 was for them.

Well, we are in 2007 now, so … have you made any resolutions yet, or are you planning on any?

The poll below allows multiple votes. Some of them are “stereotypical” resolutions, others are based at least in part on stuff I want to do in the new year. So, vote away!

(Oh, please comment in the comments link as well, if you would, especially since one person besides me has already checked "moon the White House" as one of his/her resolutions!)

Free polls from Pollhost.com

What resolution(s) do you plan for this year? (Vote for more than one if you want)

Lose weight Get someone else to lose weight Quit smoking Quit drinking or something else Get someone else to quit something Increase in self-awareness Do other personal growth work Moon the White House, even if from the safety of your own residence Meet someone special, or develop something special, if unattached Re-examine job/career path Learn about accepting life better Look at how to possibly "reframe" how I see things Renew old acquaintances/friendships Get more financially organized or better planned

WINTER SUNSETS

The winter-bared trees at sunset
Reflect the day’s last dying embers.
The light-line creeps ever higher
Looking like Southwest canyon rimrock.

I think of Big Bend, or Canyonlands,
As the first full moon of winter
Rises slowly in the eastern sky,
And hangs pendant o’er now-gray limbs.

Did some Comanche of times past
Stop to absorb a similar sky?
Standing here, in my own footprints
To take stock of his own inmost self?

Sunset’s last treetop fingertips fade;
The moon looms higher in the dusky chill.
I am more one with the world that is,
Finding peace that I already had.

Jan. 1, 2007

Taking a look at 2006

Yes, put that champagne glass down, pull the lampshade off, or wake up and smell the espresso. Give a brief think back to the year just past and share your opinion about it.

In hindsight, what was your 2006 like?

It was even better than expectedIt sucked out the wazooWhat? When did 2005 end?It was OK, all things consideredI really don’t know how to rate it, so many unexpected things happenedBetter than average, overallLess than desired, overall

Free polls from Pollhost.com

The eyes have it - thoughts about existential eternity

ETERNITY
(An old poem brought back to memory by the thought of looking into Someone’s eyes)

The moment
When the eyes return
From near to far
Is eternity.
An unfocused gaze
With no
Intervening ego.
The self shines through
The real me,
Momentarily unfiltered.
But if I try
To grasp the moment
It trickles through
My clawing fingers
And drains away
Liquid silver
Flowing free and uncontainable.
The moment
When the eyes return
From near to far
Is eternity.
For eternity is
Always found
In the moment
Of the now.
A momentary
Refocusing of thought
Which thinks beyond myself
Unbounded by old burdens,
Uncontrolled by old ideas
This moment
Is eternity.

THE DEAD — A LESSON

The dead lie askew,
Scattered and strewn about;
Just as in life.

Gravestones refuse to be erect,
Tilting awry as the burdens of age set in.
Just as in life.

Yet, from all around the dead sprouts life.
Mushrooms rising even in winter with renewing rains
And cedars evergreen shading the tangible memories of the departed.
The dead, even in small ways, do not lie unremembered,
Just as in life.

Graveyard walks can be very reflective
When the dead are approached with an open mind,
Just as in life.

Will we find life
In our inner, personal and emotional deaths,
As long as we have life?

Dec. 31, 2006