CHAPTER SEVENTY FOUR: FLAMING YOUTH

Written by: Rick Staggenborg, MD on Feb 21, 2010 9:24 PM PST

This chapter is dedicated to Lynn Sharpe, the young woman I met last night at an event Soldiers For Peace International put on for the benefit of the good people of my current place of residence in Coos Bay, Oregon. She was blessed to stumble upon our joyous celebration of the struggle that gives our lives its purpose.

At the tender age of 17, Lynn has already learned the most important lessons it took me 51 years to fully understand. She courageously faces the dangers of the open road in order to fully embrace and experience all of the gifts that God has granted us. With faith in the eternal love and protection of that which watches and judges the actions of each of us, she proceeds into the world without fear in the quest to understand her role in the dance of Shiva.

Believing that each of us is immortal and not knowing the number of the days that God has allotted her, she is determined to explore the world and ponder its mysteries until she understands what she can do to help ensure that those who come after her enjoy all of the fruits of the liberty that God, through the saints of Armies past and present have fought to preserve for us.

Lynn is a beautiful angel who is destined to inspire many to enlist in the war against selfishness, greed and ignorance sparked when Cain slew Abel. Not even knowing it, she has touched the lives of everyone who has taken the time to notice her brilliant presence in their lives without coveting the ultimate gift God granted her alone to share with those of her choosing.

May God and man be with her to guide her and to assist her on her journey to understand the role she plays in the reclaiming of our kingdom. I am reassured not only by her strength of character and willingness to defend herself ably with the blade she carries but in my knowledge that she will encounter on her way the Army of the Soldiers For Peace who have dedicated their lives to ensuring that she and her progeny will inherit a world fit for human habitation.

We owe it to ourselves, our children and their children to leave the world closer to perfection than we found it. When we abandon fear, selfishness, greed and prejudice, we will create a Heaven on Earth worthy of passing on to our children. Only by atoning for our sins and those of our fathers can we ever hope to save our individual and collective souls from the fate that appears to be coming to those who lack faith in the ability of men and women of good will to salvage the civilization we have collectively built.

Mohammed taught that in order to do Allah’s will we must begin by winning the first jihad: the conquering of our own natural urges to put our personal interests above those of Mankind. Buddha called this the death of the ego and Christ taught that attaining it requires unconditional love for others. Abraham was willing to sacrifice his own son to show God that he was willing to obey it in all things.

That is all God asks any of us. If we err in attempting to serve the spirit of love, we are already forgiven. Christ did not die to erase our sins but to show to those who loved him that he was willing to forgo corporeal existence whenever God called upon him to act. This is unconditional love.

Every Soldier For Peace of any nation or religious background is called upon to do the same to the best of his or her ability and with awareness of our inability to comprehend God’s entire plan for us. God gave us free will to ensure the continual evolution of consciousness so that we might every day make the world a new and better place.

All of the prophets were listening to God as it made evident to them through simple but undeniable evidence in their own lives their roles in the great scheme of things. Each was a listener and a seeker of truth. Their mission was to teach others to keep hope alive when fear and panic overwhelmed reason at various key point in space-time.

While none of us can individually know the entirety of God’s desires for us, together we can not only understand the true nature of reality, but mold it to our collective will. Each of us through our choices determine the nature of consensus reality and ultimately, the fate of the Earth. Common sense tells us that neither God nor Man wants us to destroy ourselves and our planet yet again.

Abraham had faith in the eternal nature of our souls and in God’s intention to always serve the highest good for all. I for one refuse to continue others to allow the sacrifice of our children on the altar of greed and lust for domination. I am a Soldier For Peace, as Lynn will be on every step of her journey toward enlightenment. I have utter faith that God is with her at every step, for unlike most of us she is convinced that we are all angels on the Earth sent to recreate Heaven so that God may dwell in each of us in the only world we know from personal experience.

The ultimate mission of the Army of Soldiers For Peace International is to ensure that the sacrifices of our progenitors willingly made were not in vain. We honor our Father and Mother only when we keep this mind in all things we decide are true. Every decision is a moral one and we must tread lightly and choose our path carefully if we are to guarantee that the pain women have born through the generations was for a great cause.

May God bless Lynn and all of our children with its grace and help them to enjoy all that it has gifted us. This is my duty as I see it and I expect others of good will to ensure that it happens, whatever the number of the days allotted to my body. It is not my own, but God’s to do with as it sees fit to show me is consistent with my sense of integrity and duty to Mankind.

In the immortal words of Elton John:

It's a little bit funny, this feeling inside.

I'm not one of those who can easily hide.

I don't have much money but boy if I did,

I'd buy a big house where we both could live.

If I was a sculptor, but then again, no,

Or a man who makes potions in a travelling show…

I know it's not much but it's the best I can do.

My gift is my song and this one's for you.

And you can tell everybody this is your song.

It may be quite simple but now that it's done,

I hope you don't mind,

I hope you don't mind that I put down in words:

How wonderful life is while you're in the world.

I sat on the roof and kicked off the moss

Well a few of the verses well, they've got me quite cross.

But the sun's been quite kind while I wrote this song.

It's for people like you that keep it turned on.

So excuse me forgetting but these things I do.

You see I've forgotten if they're green or they're blue.

Anyway, the thing is, what I really mean:

Yours are the sweetest eyes I've ever seen.

And you can tell everybody this is your song.

It may be quite simple but now that it’s done,

I hope you don’t mind, I hope you don’t mind that I put down in words:

How wonderful life is, while you’re in the world.

Rick Staggenborg, MD


Coos Bay, Oregon