The Usual Suspects

First things first. The front porch at the House of Guru Ram Das is complete (just awaiting paint- which will be an entire house painting). Now Phase II is the reworking of the back porch. As you can see in the photo, there is not much holding up the steps to the back door. I am excited to see the progression of this

part of the project. Manuel and I are praying that the donations flow to help this project come to completion quickly.

There is a movie that I used to watch called the Usual Suspects. There is a scene that has this beautiful edifice that reminds me of a Buddhist or Shinto temple. I did some research and found that it is called the Korean Friendship Bell. Manuel, Zoe and I packed up and headed there yesterday. It was a gray sky day with occasional sprinkles, but it was a beautiful day. When we arrived, we climbed the big hill up to the Korean Friendship Bell. After exploring around the bell, we were walking around and saw many strange large concrete areas. Then we saw giant bullets and discovered that below the friendship bell was above Fort MacArthur which was an old army post that guarded Los Angeles Harbor. The staff there was friendly and told us to check out the museum. We had our dog with us and they said to go ahead and bring her, just clean up if she makes a mess. So Manuel, Zoe and I explored this museum/ underground army post. There were old newspaper clippings and notices for the Japanese internment during World War II. We read some of the old newspaper headlines that actually said "Japs" for Japanese people. Sometimes I wonder how civilized the world really is. With all new technology are people really evolving? Are people getting smarter or is porn just more easily accessible? But just reading the newspaper headlines, I realized that S-L-O-W-L-Y it is happening and it is possible. Even through word choices, this changes the way one thinks.

The Japanese internment happened in 1944- sixty four years ago. This wasn't really that long ago. There were 110,000 people in Hawaii and the West Coast who were put into these concentration camps. So all of these people had their homes and belongings taken from them in the name of racial ignorance (racial prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership). This generation of people have lived through September 11, 2001 we are familiar with the racial profiling of those of Middle Eastern descent. Scary that it happens again. That is why it is important to vote for representatives for this country that are not only educated, but are strong in their convictions. During times like these, one needs to research who one wants to be the voice of your country- someone who is diverse, who can talk not only to the people, but deliver for the greater good in a just and fair way. It is time that all leaders- not just political to be aware and perform to the best of their ability- without corruption.