With and Without Zoro
Fredericton, NB
With all the talk in recent years about Global Village realities where cultural distinctions merge into a corporate-intended melting pot we may wonder if unique identities even stand a chance for a place in society. Some believe that you can never wipe out or merge distinctiveness completely; that the world will also appear to function on a unity in diversity basis in one way or another.
I found interesting that as a guest speaker to a class on Religious Studies at St. Thomas University on the path of Krishna Consciousness, Prof. Parkhill, our invitee, was embarking on a theme 'How We Other Others'. My assumption on this topic is how and why people build walls between each other, overall the dynamics behind seeing the guy on the other side of the fence as different and passing fast judgement on him.
In any event, my presentation was done, students seemed satisfied with responses to questions and we finished with a happy kirtan.
Wade, a resident of Fredericton, was kind to take me to O'Dell Park with its windy trails through new and old growth. He's been employed with the Ministry of Natural Resources and also with the provincial government as a speech writer for politicians. “I'd rather chop wood and stick it in a neat pile than write those speeches”, Wade admitted to me as we walked with his lanky grayhound dog Zorro. Wade, by the way, chants Hare Krishna on his wooden beads daily. Today trailed and talked and at intervals identified trees like the dense hardwood tree called ironwood, the hemlock and the balsam fir which is the popular Christmas tree.
Wade and I moved on, without Zorro, to the local Hindu temple along with Nitai Rama, Sahil, and Nirmana. All went super well. Prof. Parkhill came and a gathering of people, origins from all over India. We dwelt on 18:65 and 66 from the Gita, had our puja (worships) and then delighted in prasadam. That food was extremely hot. I wanted to get the fire hose.
May the Source be with you!
5 KM
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