We Are All Equal, But Not Equally Blessed,

Carole Stolz 25^th June 2010

Is 50 : 50 too much to ask?

I think that we’re up to the task.

Why do we have in excess,

if not to give to those with less?

What we have is a stewardship

- not to shop or go on a trip.

The only trip that we should make

is to visit the poor to see what’s at stake.

They are dying from H.I.V. Aids

or in the factories we have made

or as slaves in an Asian bed,

the light in the window the colour red.

It’s a marked contrast to life in the West.

Instead of nakedness, clothes of the best.

They are bare footed, we choose by colour

then walk through our Villas whilst they live in squalor.

Bins overflowing, where to with the waste?

An excess of rubbish wraps our expensive taste.

But for too many children, that is their home

- life on a rubbish tip which they daily roam

looking for tit-bits not eaten by worms,

shared with the dogs and invisible germs.

- Just to drive by is too much to bear,

so we turn away, we just don’t care.

And that’s what we do, whether here or there.

They’re invisible people, the ones who stare

at our gaudy dress and haughty air.

We’re not a tad better, we’re of equal worth

no matter where born on the planet earth

Whether a cleaner or a business Exec.,

beautiful or smashed up from a car wreck,

scattered through famine, displaced due to war,

rich in the suburbs or in the slums – poor.

We are all equal, but not equally blessed,

So stop feeding your greed, giving bones to the rest.

Examine your heart – what is your diagnosis?

Greed can be cured – give away in large doses! 

Gottes Geflüster

Carole Stolz

Hören, Zuhören - Hörst du mir zu?

Um das zu machen, braucht man ein ich und ein du.

Wenn ich ganz allein ist, hört ich gerne zu.

Mit eine zweite anwesend, denn eine gibt Ruh.

Hin und her, her und hin

Abwechslung nötig für diesen Sinn

Übung macht den Meister aber wollen wir das?

Alleine zu reden macht viel mehr Spass!

Kleinkinder verstehen nicht wie man das macht

Sie stolpern hinein, Pläne nicht durchdacht.

Schreit „ Mama und Papa jetzt hört mir mal zu!“

Aber was du ihn sagst ist vergessen im Nu.

Solch‘ Unterhaltung ist eine Einbahnstrasse.

Zeit und Geduld bringt man durch diese Phase.

Aber lernen wir wirklich in der Schule des Lebens,

Oder bleiben wir Kleinkind trotzt all unser Strebens?

Wenn wir als Kind-Gottes, neu geboren

mit Vatergott reden, ist alles verloren -

Sind schon wieder verstopft - unsere Ohren

Das „Ich“ will reden, und niemals gehorchen

„Ich will“, „Gib mir“ unsere trotzenden Bitten

Ganz im Vergessenheit die erlernten Sitten.

Wie „Zuhören“ und „still sein“ und „was willst Du mir sagen?“

Willst du wirklich eine Antwort auf all deine Fragen?

Das zuhören ist müssig, braucht Zeit und Geduld

Aber lohnt sich zu lernen - du bist es Gott schuld.

Er tat alles nötig um mit dir zu reden

Jetzt lies in sein Wort und lern richtig zu beten!

Und wenn du horchst, ganz leise und still

Da gibt es noch etwas das Gott von dir will.

Machst du auch das, was er zu dir sagt?

Weil hören mit Taten ist angesagt

In diese Welt gibt es so viele Schmerzen

Was Gott dringend braucht, ist Menschen mit Herzen

Sie sind seine Stimme und Ohren und Füße

und auch Gottes Hände und auch Gottes Küsse

Sie helfen und retten, befreien und füttern

Werden für Weisen zu Vätern, Geschwistern und Müttern

Du bist ganz wichtig, eine einmaliges Muster!

  - So sei jetzt still und offen für Gottes Geflüster.

Happy to Fear

Carole Stolz 7^th April 2010
As Adam and Mate the apple they ate

and choked, and dying became their fate.

Their minds were tainted.

Openness and lack of shame

turned to secrecy, shift of blame

accusations, truth painted.

And so today we can’t think straight.

Confused, puffed up, we learn to hate

the gifts which we should treasure.

So beautiful bodies, a great self worth

are sold out to sex and a dearth

of perversities all in the name of leisure.

Afraid to give we crave for more.

Afraid to worship, we adore

false images of God.

Like self and famous, pet and vices

Hobbies, sport, electric devices

Car, computer, i-pod.

Guilt free, joy and self secure

Given up for guilt and insecure

A poor exchange indeed!

Yet we don’t heed our altered state.

Afraid to love, we love to hate

Not knowing it’s You we need.

Happy to fear the exchange they made

in Eden on the day they traded

bliss for knowledge, caress for a fist.

And so we chase our empty dreams of happiness

and opening boxes full of pretty nothingness

We die, ill content, spent, on chasing a mist.

Human Trafficking, Albania-Western Europe

Anna’s trafficker kept her in submission through physical abuse – beating her, raping her, and slicing her with knives. He abducted her from Albania and took her to a Western European country, where she was forced into prostitution for about five months. He then took her to a second Western European country, where she told border authorities she was traveling on a falsified passport in hopes of getting help.The police sent her to a refugee camp where two Albanian social workers re- leased her back to her trafficker. During more than four years of subsequent forced prostitution in the second destination,Anna was made to undergo four abortions. When her trafficker was deported to Albania, five years after her initial abduction,Anna went to police with information about the trafficking ring.Two days later, she too was deported to Albania, where the trafficker continued his threats and abuse. Anna pursued prosecution of her trafficker in Albania, but he remains free. She has been denied residency and assistance from several Western European countries, including the ones in which she was exploited. She was able to resettle in the United States where she is continuing her rehabilitation and studying to become a nurse.

from the Trafficking in Persons Report, June 2010

Department of State, United States of America