I do NOT believe we are all born equal. Created equal in the eyes of God, yes, but physical and emotional differences, parental guidelines, varying environments, being in the right place at the right time, all play a role in enhancing or limiting an individual's development. But I DO believe every man and woman, if given the opportunity and encouragement to recognize their potential, regardless of background, has the freedom to choose in our world. Will an individual be a taker or a giver in life? Will that person be satisfied merely to exist or seek a meaningful purpose? Will he or she dare to dream the impossible dream? I believe every person is created as the steward of his or her own destiny with great power for a specific purpose, to share with others, through service, a reverence for life in a spirit of love.
— Hugh O'Brian, The Freedom to Choose

At left Zoe and her friends at the Hugh O'Brian World Leadership Conference (WLC) on the campus of Loyola University in Chicago, Illinois. Students in their sophomore year are chosen from all over the world and represent all fifty states and 19 countries and regions. Founded in 1958 by American actor Hugh O'Brian, to date more than 460,000 students have attended HOBY programs.  Mr O'Brian was inspired by a visit with Dr. Albert Schweitzer, the renowned theologian, humanitarian and Nobel Laureate to create an organization dedicated to training and nurturing the young leaders of tomorrow.  Its mission is to provide lifelong leadership development opportunities that empower youth to achieve their highest potential and gain knowledge of leadership skills.  This summer, my granddaughter Zoe was chosen to attend the Hugh O'Brian World Leadership Conference. She met students from all over the world and has come back inspired to do great things.  Knowing my granddaughter and her determination and desire, she will do just that.

Do you believe in serendipity?  I believe that Zoe experienced a little serendipity at the conference, when, without knowing who she was, Zoe invited a lovely lady who seemed to be by herself to come and sit at Zoe's table which the lady did.  They struck up a long and in depth conversation about Responsible Consumption and Production and the lovely lady turned out to be Ms. O'Brian, Hugh O'Brian's widow.  Since Zoe has been home they have stayed in touch and Zoe has found an organization at home that focuses on home cooking and healthy eating that will be a perfect collaboration for Zoe who is quite a cook, a health food consumer and a big environmentalist and conservationist. At right are Zoe, another student and Ms. O'Brian.  

Zoe told me that two of her best friends from WLC were a young man from Beijing and a young girl from Hong Kong and they introduced Zoe to the political unrest between their countries from their separate perspectives but in respectful conversation with each other.  That is what the world should be like, where we all have our differences but are able to peacefully coexist and take care of our shared world.  

​Way to go Zoe and all of the young students, growing, sharing and working for a better future! 

After perfecting the origami star pattern below, I made two stars and pasted the one with a special quote on top to "wish upon".

The quote is by the French writer George Sand (born Aurore Dupin) and it states: "It is never too late to be what you might have been."  Food for thought ... I interpret it to mean "Always keep trying in life to be the best that you have ever dreamed of being".

Another quote that I love by George Sand "Guard well within yourself that treasure, kindness. Know how to give without hesitation, how to lose without regret, how to acquire without meanness.

George Sand was an amazing woman and the most prolific author of her day.  She lived an independent and rule breaking life and left behind an astonishing library of literary work and a legacy of a rich and bohemian lifestyle for us to enjoy.......

I usually like to post positive messages but I am angry right now - at the use of glyphosate (market name Roundup®) in agriculture and landscaping.

A mysterious "bump" came up on my little dog Nunzi's foot and I thought that it was a fox tail burr imbedded in his foot as he is a short little fellow and he picks up things wherever we take walks.  However when I took him to the vet, she told me that it looked suspiciously like a mast cell tumor, which I had never heard of.  She took a biopsy and sent it to the lab and it came back as a malignant mast cell tumor which had not spread to any other organ yet but was in his lymph node.  He is an older dog but normally pretty healthy so I started researching what the cause of the tumor could be. I found a site discussing the use of  the chemical glyphosate (market name Roundup®) in the environment and its correlation to cancer in dogs.  I knew that Bayer who bought Monsanto the chemical's creator was recently hit with a $2 billion verdict losing their third straight Roundup® trial in relation to cancer in humans, but I did not know about dogs.  A lab at The University of California San Francisco reports that, in their testing, a whopping 93% of humans today have glyphosate in their systems, with children having the highest levels particularly in agricultural areas.  

Studies have found that dogs can have up to 5,000% more glyphosate than humans and it makes sense.  They are lower to the ground, they sometimes eat the grass that has been sprayed and they roll in it. A national laboratory was offering to test a pet's urine for glyphosate so I sent in a sample of Nunzi's urine.

After about a week I received the lab results and Nunzi had a effective glyphosate level of 35.7 ppb (ng/mL.) more than twice the average of other samples received by the lab.  I was appalled and I called the laboratory to find out more about glyphosate and cancer.  I was told that glyphosate, because of vast agricultural and landscape spraying, is everywhere.  I knew that I had to research further.  What I found made me sick and mad.

Many crops and food products for both animals and people are heavily contaminated. There is a list online of common and popular animal and human foods known to have glyphosate contamination.  Our large commercial farms, particularly with GMO crops, are being sprayed with Roundup® because it is the easiest weed killer.  It is now  leaching into our food, our water and our environment.  Looking at the list of dog foods, Nunzi did not eat any of the dog foods listed so that took me back to the spraying of the environment where we live.  I discovered that our neighborhood HOA had contracted with a landscape maintenance company that was spraying Roundup® on a regular basis.  It stays in the soil for a very long time and toxins are generally metabolized more slowly in animals, the fetus, small children and the elderly.  Our community has all of those mentioned.  I am now demanding that the HOA discontinue the practice of using Roundup®.  Many countries throughout the world and communities across the U.S. have already done so and it is time to join them.

What am I doing for Nunzi?  Our naturopathic vet has him on an immune building diet of supplements and a specially made food for dogs with cancer.  We are treating his tumor with laser "zapping" and.working hard to outrace and stop the cancer... and we are giving him lots of love.  He seems to feel fine and loves his food with all the supplements mixed in it.  Please keep him and other such glyphosate affected animals in your thoughts; be aware of the dangers of Roundup®; research the foods contaminated and try to avoid them; eat organic when you can and join me in trying to rid us of this horrible chemical.