Conscious Choice: Childless by Choice

June 2005 | Choice Feedback

Childless by Choice

Darlene Paris’ column (about remaining childless by choice) in the May issue of Conscious Choice is really wonderful. It speaks to a whole bunch of people who get asked “Don’t you have any children?!” It happens to me all the time. And then I usually get those special “looks,” the ones that say, “you poor man … you must have no testicles.”

I had a priceless encounter last month. I was at a car dealership, and the sales guy was asking about my family. So, I said I was divorced. He said: What about your kids? I said, “I don’t have any, and that is too bad because now I have to spend all my money on myself.” He didn’t say anything else after that (except I did get the “look”).

Keep up the good work!

— Richard McGinnis, Chicago

Compassion Reflections

AT ALMOST 60 years old. I unfortunately have become more cynical with age. I look around me and see a total disregard for human dignity. It troubles me and breaks my heart. I’m talking about constant, repeated actions that hurt people deeply because those who are in positions above others, simply, can. It would seem that those in power have gone to the “Dark Side” and revel in their sick joy of it.

I believe, it starts at the top, in Washington. I can see it in the smirks on the faces of our president and vice president and their close cohorts. It then “trickles down” to those who look to these people as examples of how to behave.. They are just plain mean bullies. It’s really, very, very sad. I don’t care about the saying that “we get the leaders we deserve” … we deserve better. The whole world does.

Thank god for the Internet. If I didn’t find articles and sites that speak of and call to our higher nature, I’d probably collapse into a deep despair for the whole planet. It sometimes gets difficult to remain hopeful when we all are bombarded with so much that negates faith in the inherent good of most of humanity. I recognize this when another person is just plain nice and I know they are a blessing.

And since the subject is Compassion, there’s just one final thing: Why was Bush re-elected? For the life of me I just can’t figure that one out! After the last 4 years you would think he would be run out on a rail for his un-compassionate activities.

— J. D. Forbes, Internet

Kudos to Uncommon Healers

I AM WRITING in relation to (the March Uncommon Healer) article on Neural Transmission Repatterning (NRP), created by Phoebe Allwell. I was fascinated by the emphasis on viewing the body as an energy system, shifting away from the medical model view of merely focusing on physical symptoms and syndromes. The notion of “energy blockages” makes so much sense in terms of how we can restore a healthy functioning system. I also found it fascinating that the article pointed out MRI studies and the discovery that repeated trauma rewires the brain’s original pathways. This statement is consistent with other findings in the areas of bio-behavioral research and recent literature on brain functioning.

All in all, I am so pleased that we are becoming aware of the multidimensional dimensions of the healing process (mind, body, spirit), and that your articles bring these issues to the fore. We are changing how we view the change process, and I believe we will remain “stuck” unless we consider the various dimensions that this article suggests.

— Donna M. Mahoney, PhD., LaGrange, IL

THANK YOU so much for the article on Dr. Sarah Allen in the April 2005 issue (“Uncommon Healer”). I have attended several of Dr. Allen’s workshops and always walk away full of newfound knowledge and enthusiasm. She’s a leader in her field.

Care of self is what she stands for. I am a healing practitioner, as well, and have used her techniques with much success. Keep up the great work.

— Gloria Taylor, L.M.T., Buffalo Grove

Green Pools

I AM (INTERESTED IN) alternative swimming pool systems. I have a kidney bean shaped pool in my back yard that I absolutely do not want to use chlorine in. I am trying to make a “Conscious Choice.” Please help me to help my family and the environment. Any direction on this matter will be very appreciated.

— Michelle Smith, Internet

Editor’s Note: Any suggestions from our readers would be appreciated.

Open Letter to Mothers and Grandmothers

AS A BOARD member of Rainforest Action Network, co-founder of CODEPINK, and most importantly, as the mother of three beautiful children, I am writing to ask you to join me in an effort to reduce our country’s oil dependence. If you’re like me, you’re concerned about how America’s dangerous addiction to oil is threatening our national security, producing smog that harms our children’s health, destabilizing our climate, and forcing us to pay ever-increasing gas prices. If we don’t solve this problem now, then what kind of future are we leaving for our kids?

I am writing to ask you to join me in helping to jumpstart Ford Motor Company, America’s biggest gas guzzler. We are asking mothers and grandmothers from across the country to help us convince America’s flagship automaker to lead us to a clean energy future. To get involved, visit www.listentoyourmother.org.

— Jodie Evans, Co-founder, CODEPINK,
Boardmember, Rainforest Action Network

Say No to Peotone Airport

GOV. ROD Blagojevich has established himself as the Land of Lincoln’s undisputed leader in the art of talking out of both sides of one’s mouth.

In April IDOT submitted a master plan for the proposed Peotone airport to the FAA, prompting praise from the governor. Too bad Blagojevich appears to equate public works with economic development even when the alleged private sector beneficiary — the commercial airline industry — has no interest in the project.

On the same day the governor issued a proclamation to encourage Illinois citizens to recognize the 70th anniversary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Never mind that Blagojevich’s airport plan flies in the face of everything that Illinois’ conservation-minded citizens value.

Last year, the Association of Illinois Soil and Water Conservation Districts adopted a resolution opposing the Peotone airport “because of the loss of prime farmland, excessive soil erosion, water quality impacts (storm water and drinking), increased flooding, urban sprawl, and financial impact on local, state and federal budget shortfalls.”

If the governor truly supports conservation and the advancement of ecological principles, he will direct IDOT to stop planning the Peotone airport.

Since 1985, the state has spent well in excess of $100 million to plan and promote a “third” commercial airport in a Chicago region.Those monies would have been better spent developing a tri-state, multi-modal, transportation system that helps consumers take full advantage of Milwaukee and Rockford on the north, O’Hare in the middle and Midway and Gary in the south.

— George Ochsenfeld, President of STAND,
(Shut This Airport Nightmare Down), Monee, Ill.

Corrections & Clarifications

THE ILLUSTRATION for April’s Whole Health story on Fluoride (“The Fluoride Factor”) failed to credit the artist, Kelli Bickman, www.kellibickman.net.

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