I wanted to share this story about the rehabiltion of child soldiers in Africa. It’s nothing short of a human tragedy and deserves our attention. About 10 years ago I did a course on the International Dimensions of Human Rights. One fact that really troubled me was the sheer numbers of children who had been co-opted by force into becoming soldiers and ultimately killers. The use of drugs and torture was commonplace and the results horrific.

Yet out of this comes a story of healing which has lessons for all of us especially those in developed countries where teenage crime is on the rise. I’ll leave you all to draw your own conclusions.

The recent financial crisis has made me think more about how important money is in our lives. Without the liquidity (cash) pumped into the system by the Federal Reserve the whole financial system could, and probably would, have siezed up.

By that i mean the flow of money would have dried up and banks would have stopped lending and peopl would have run out of money and been queueing at the banks to get cash out. Of course there isn’t any but you knew that already

It shows us two important facets of our society: one is that we depend on the financial system for our daily lives; two is that we are living on the verge of a serious breakdown. It’s a bit like trying to stay on top of the bills.

I don;t know if there are any readers who remember the Depression but they will understand what i am talking about.

I believe we are all systems within systems, whether at the atomic level, individual being or universe. Systems depend on flow and feedback in order to keep stable. We need energy through food or sunlight to survive.

The parellels of the financial crisis and oil crisis are interesting. I remember back towards the turn of the millenium when we had a mini crisis in the UK when oil deliveries were delayed . The supermarkets were within 24 hours of running out of food since they used just in time delivery. The crucial importance of energy (in the form of oil) was highlighted but more than that it showed how close to the edge we were living.

We depend on a continual flow of energy to survive. This brings me to love. Yes that old favourite. We can’t do without that either. The great thing about love is that it is free and easy to give. But as we know, when love is lacking and not flowing our system breaks down: into war, violence, depression and death. Without a flow of love nothing is worth living for. We can see the effects all around us.

Surely love is something we can never run out of