Karen Armstrong says it so well

I love this quotation from Karen Armstrong:

“Religion is not about accepting twenty impossible propositions before breakfast, but about doing things that change you. It is a moral aesthetic, an ethical alchemy. If you behave in a certain way, you will be transformed. The myths and laws of religion are not true because they conform to some metaphysical, scientific or historical reality but because they are life enhancing. They tell you how human nature functions, but you will not discover their truth unless you apply these myths and doctrines to your own life and put them into practice.”

― Karen Armstrong, The Spiral Staircase: My Climb Out of Darkness

photo from Iona by me

On a Spanish roadside

I am just back from a week of cycling in Spain. This was the perfect midwinter break that I needed.We stayed near Benidorm (which seems to be a multi-story old peoples home) and went out into the hills and along the coast. There is still much wonderful scenery so close to the urban coastal jungle that is the Costa Blanca.
But there was one sight that I found somewhat disturbing though I have since found out that it is common throughout Spain. 
On the side of an ordinary main road, in lay-bys, and often seated on wooden dining room chairs were women in isolated spots and seemingly quite alone. The looked at me as I cycled past with a strange sort of look. They were of course following the so called oldest profession. They were prostitutes. They were a mix of ages. Some were quite mature women with a fixed smile and others looked like ordinary teenagers, passing the time of day by talking on their mobile phone. 
Were these trafficked women brought in from eastern Europe with the promise of exotic jobs in the entertainment business by organised crime? Their colouring indicated that they might be Roma but in Spain many of the local people people are deeply tanned so it was impossible to ascertain their ethnicity. Was this just the result of the deep recession of the euro zone? 
I suppose the moral I draw from the experience is that wherever we are in the world there will be the attractive face that we see on the surface and there will also be a underside which may remain hidden for the most part. If we look beneath the surface view, as presented by the tourist brochures, we will begin to see the real world that makes up the everyday experience of the local people for whom this is home. 

Yesterday I saw the following slogan on a tee shirt which spoke to me of the plight of women in this sort of situation:

Feminism - teaching girls to be somebodies instead of somebody's.

Image courtesy of mapichai  / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Gobsmacked by Technology

I am pretty techno savvy. I understand computers and make use of the internet for many different parts of life. But what is possible sometimes takes my breath away. 

This afternoon, as I was musing about my forthcoming flight, I wondered where the aircraft I had recently seen flying overhead was headed. I then discovered  flight radar.  
On this website is a map covering as much of the UK as I wanted with little planes positioned exactly where they are in the sky. Moving the mouse over any of the small planes gave me a number - I thought it might have been a flight number but it is a call sign. I have yet to discover how to find the flight number from the call sign but when I do I will be able to see how close to home is the flight I am waiting for!

May I never lose the sense of wonder at what human ingenuity can achieve. 

Image courtesy of  meepoohfoto  /FreeDigitalPhotos.net