Each of us has something we love doing with all our heart, with all our passion, with all our soul.

Some people call such things a hobby or avocation or a calling.

For some of us, our passion might be collecting the most interesting and beautiful stamps in the world and having a stamp collection. Some of us have great doll collections; others among us like to collect tiny figures made of china. Some people have butterfly collections. Others love to collect and read books and listen to music. A person I know collects all the recorded CDs of the works of the composer Bach. Others feel very passionate about playing soccer or football or cycling and know everything about their favorite sports teams and players.

What is your special hobby? What is your special passion? What is it that you love doing most or thinking about? Would you even kill or steal or beg for your passion?

So, this is an essay where you tell us about something you love dearly. Why is that hobby so important to you? How does it give you pleasure and bring joy to your life?
Share this special part of your life with us.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was taken to prison and scheduled to stand trial for allowing an American man to stay overnight in her home, an apparent violation of her long-term house arrest. Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi, 63, who won the 1991 Nobel Prize for her work to bring democracy to Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has been under house arrest for six years by the military junta. She is allowed no visitors without state permission.
You can help her by writing now to the Foreign Minister of Myanmar to call for the immediate and unconditional release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all prisoners of conscience in the country.
You can easily do this by using the link below which will take you to the letter-writing campaign page of the human rights group Amnesty International. On that page, found at

http://www.amnesty.org/en/appeals-for-action/call-immediate-and-unconditional-release-aung-san-suu-kyi

you will find a letter template which you can fill in and then submit to Amnesty which will forward the letter to the government authorities in Myanmar.
This is one of the ways you can show support for political prisoners who need your help. The more letters that are sent to the government, the more world pressure is placed on the military government to take action to free Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi.
Can you even imagine how difficult it must be to be confined to your home and not allowed to walk in the street or carry on your life outside the home?
How would you feel?

You’ve finally  struck it rich and won $144 million — as did an 82 year-old man in Washington, D.C. who just won the Powerball Jackpot (”As the Powerball Jackpot Is Claimed, Mystery Remains: the Winner’s Name,” Washington Post May 5, 2009). 

So, tell me.  What will you do with the money?  It will change your life, either make it much better, or perhaps worse.

Tell me about the selfish things you would do with the money, such as spending it on things you would like.

Tell me about the unselfish things you would do with the money, such as helping others. The  man who won this amount of money plans to create three trusts or savings funds: one to educate his children and future generations, one for their health care, and one for philanthropy, or helping others.

Now it’s your turn to use the money.  What will you do with it?  

Share your ideas with us. 

How will we deal with a serious illness when it hits us? Will we just give in to it and allow it to dominate our lives and make us think all the time only of our bodily ills? Or, will we fight to continue living our lives as best as we can and squeeze the life out of every precious moment.
Winifred Gallagher, who just wrote a book, ”Rapt,” experienced a harsh form of cancer. In an interview with John Tierney that appeared in The New York York Times May 5 she said, ”When I woke up in the morning I’d ask myself: Do you want to lie here paying attention to the very good chance you’ll die and leave your children motherless, or do you want to get up and wash your face and pay attention to your work and your family and your friends? Hell or heaven — it’s your choice.”

What do you think of her words? Do you agree or disagree?
How have your dealt with harsh illness in your own life or that of someone you are close to? What has gotten your through this turmoil?
Please share with us.

A young girl who has been speechless all her life awakens one morning to discover that she can speak. Because her words are new and pure, they have the ability to heal all the hurts and sadness of the world. What are some of the simple healing words she utters?
Try to be her for a moment and speak for her.