This Machine Fights Fascists

Where I grew up in Revere, the mailbox at the bottom of our hill was often attacked - older kids would throw a dead squirrel in, garbage, trash, then, finally rip it off the sidewalk and throw it in the street. The city would come and replace it eventually, and the whole process would begin again; the violence came from those who would never write a letter, pay a bill or have the sophistication to buy a stamp and put it on an envelope. 

I was about 12 years old when, one day, our mailbox was gone; I already had two pen-pals I couldn’t reach: one, from England, he didn’t work out as he only wanted nude photos of me; the other, a Native-American boy in Pocatello, Idaho. I liked him. Both pen-pals had been found in teen magazines.

Without the mailbox, my mother couldn’t send cards or pay her bills. My mother couldn’t drive a car, and, even if she could, my father would have taken it to work. Like most of the people now who are left without a mailbox in their neighborhood, my mother didn’t have the time or the energy to go look for the nearest mailbox. Finally, she asked the mailman to pick up her mail when he delivered, and, thankfully, he did.

I’ve been thinking of our old mailbox lately as Trump tears up the USPS, as he vandalizes our mailboxes and mail sorters, as he leaves Americans who don’t have the internet without the means to communicate.  

As a writer, my whole impetus is to communicate. With no mailbox at the end of our street, we had lost a significant part of our Freedom of Speech. 

My gut reaction to seeing the mailboxes and sorting machines piled up in a dead heap was tears in my eyes. How many times have I cried because I felt like I had lost my country? Naomi Wolf calls this phenomenon, “American tears” in her book, “The End Of America: Letter Of Warning To A Young Patriot.” She calls on people to act, not cry. I’m weak, so I cry and I write.

DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN THE UNITED STATES WOULD REFUSE TO RECOGNIZE ANY COUNTRY THAT HAD INTERFERED IN ITS OWN FREE ELECTIONS? Now, here we have the President of the United States interfering in the 2020 Presidential Election by closing polls, and taking this point in time to sabotage the United States Post Office, thus taking Freedom of Speech away from thousands of citizens.

"MAIL DELIVERY SUSPENSIONS IN LOS ANGELES: Los Angeles City Council member, Mike Bonin joins The Appeal to discuss the ongoing mail crisis on the Westside of Los Angeles, where the U.S. Postal Service has suspended mail service to an entire low-income community, overwhelmingly consisting of people of color. Instead of having their mail delivered, these residents are being forced to travel to pick up their mail from the post office that is over a mile away. This action will have significant and severe consequences for community members who do not own or have access to a car to drive to the postal facility, are seniors or people with disabilities, or are essential workers who are juggling job responsibilities while trying to educate their children at home and do not have the flexibility or the time to have to go to an offsite location to retrieve their mail. The postal service’s action disenfranchises them, and denies them access to essentials, such as their income, medicine, and voting and election information."

Woody Guthrie

So, I’ve been thinking too of Woody Guthrie’s mission to Kill Fascists - I’ve softened the word kill, changing it to FIGHT. Most woke people know that Woody wrote “This Machine Kills Fascists” on his guitar. Woody’s idea of a fascist was any rich bully who was taking from the poor. During the Depression, Woody would have seen many farms and homes go into foreclosure, many families living in tents, trucks, shanties. He characterized fascism “as a form of economic exploitation similar to slavery, straightforwardly denouncing the fascists – particularly their leaders – as a group of gangsters who set out to 'rob the world.’” (John S. Partington (2011). The Life, Music and Thought of Woody Guthrie: A Critical Appraisal.)

Woody romanticized bank robbers like Bonnie & Clyde, John Dillinger, Jesse James and Pretty Boy Floyd as folk heroes who got a bit of justice back from the banks who were robbing the poor.

Woody’s own political activism was his songs like “Tear The Fascists Down” and “All You Fascists Bound To Lose," thus working the Fascist Killing Machine!

Woody Guthrie

"All You Fascists Bound To Lose"

In a similar political act of deviance, postal workers in Washington State reinstalled high-speed mail sorting machines despite USPS orders not to put machines back in use. Go Washington!

What other political acts can we do? We’re already doing it! Helping our neighbors to get to the polls! Serving free meals! Healing the sick! Wearing a mask! Social distancing! Eating healthy! Teaching others to be healthy! And free! I can’t help but feel that all the signs of hope and encouragement that people are putting up on their lawns and homes are their way of communicating during a time when they cannot communicate.

I’ll end by posting another of Woody’s songs - we can do it!

Tear the Fascists Down 

with music, powerful words and love!

©Patricia Goodwin, 2020

Patricia Goodwin is the author of When Two Women Die, about Marblehead legends and true crime and its sequel, Dreamwater, about the Salem witch trials and the vicious 11-year-old pirate Ned Low. Holy Days is her third novel, about the sexual, psychological seduction of Gloria Wisher and her subsequent transformation. Her newest poetry books are Telling Time By Apples, And Other Poems About Life On The Remnants of Olde Humphrey Farme, illustrated by the author, and Java Love: Poems of a Coffeehouse.

Within this blog, Patricia writes often about non-fiction subjects that inspire or disturb her, hopefully informing and inspiring people to be happy, healthy and free.

REINVENTION = HOPE

The first thing I saw Tuesday morning when I woke up and turned on the laptop was that Robin Williams had killed himself. I passed Denial and went right into Anger. What the fuck is going on? Philip Seymour Hoffman and now another dear genius? I guess on paper, intellectually, I agree that anyone has the right to kill himself or herself. But, emotionally, I’m hurting more than I realize. I just can’t shake my sadness at the waste of such creative, vibrant lives.

I don’t write this post lightly. I never write lightly, even if I make fun of myself. It is not easy for me to say these things. And it is especially hard to come out with these truths in the face of our shared loss in the deaths, both very much suicides, of Robin Williams and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

The idea of just not wanting to be here any more, the quality of life issue, has gotten me down more than once. Who wants to be in this world where people cannot stop killing each other? Yesterday, I saw a picture of a toddler with three rifles pointed to his head. Who cares what is was about or which side was which? Who wants to live in that world? It’s horrifying! To say it’s depressing is an understatement. (This photo turned out to be posed. It’s still disgusting. And, since we know atrocities like this pose are actually happening, the posing seems both moot and representative.)

I get depressed because the bees are dying or because Bill and Melinda Gates have invested in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault along with Monsanto Corporation, the Rockefeller Foundation, Syngenta Foundation and the Government of Norway to create a doomsday seed collection, when I know they are really busy destroying our food supply and cornering the world’s seeds for some kind of horror movie agenda. Now, that’s depressing. There are moments in the middle of the night when I really do panic, not for myself, but for mankind. For God. For Nature. Nature doesn’t care; she’ll adjust, even if she has to turn earth into the moon for a while. But, God. The loss of all He created? All He gave us? Such an act is beyond evil. I feel so sad about it, so very sad. The only thing I can do is to continue to champion organics and hope organics can survive. But, I don’t get depressed. I fight. I feel a very powerful sense of responsibility to keep on. As a writer and an artist, I must go on. I believe in the responsibility of the artist – to his talent, to God who gave him his talent, to the people who love him - to keep on - to never, ever squander his gift, not on drugs, not on laziness, not on fear. Not on depression.

When I look at celebrities, people we think “have it all,” people who have “made it,” the severe suffering and panic is obvious: they are people who stuff their faces or breasts with plastic or some other substance foreign to the human body; starve themselves in a land of plenty; workout till their muscles and veins strain out of their arms and legs; shoot heroin; shoplift; drive fast; guzzle pills or alcohol and limp off to rehab over and over. I can feel how lonely many celebrities are, especially geniuses like Williams and Hoffman. Depression, again, seems like an understatement.

However, as a macro, I know that depression is quite often the result of dehydration and constipation. In the coffee shop I go to, one of the kids who works there told me, “I used to get so depressed after drinking the coffee (dehydrating) until I started drinking a tall glass of ice water along with it. Then, I felt completely different.” Just in case you thought a kid with colored hair and a nose ring couldn’t teach you anything. Water is the only liquid that can hydrate you. Prolonged subtle dehydration, that is, not getting enough water every day for a long time, from drinking too much alcohol or other dehydrating liquids such as coffee or tea, soda or mineral water, working too hard, traveling, forced-air environments, smoking, medication side-effects, stress or - just plain not drinking enough water - can interfere with the function of the body’s organs causing problems that may be attributed to other causes and treated with more medications. Problems like muscle spasms, hamstring injuries, heat exhaustion, dizziness, heart palpitations, nausea, weakness, lightheadedness, kidney stones, rashes, gout, even dementia have been noted in people who do not get enough water. 

Robin Williams would have been the first one to rant on depression being caused by constipation. He would have made it funny, though it’s not funny. Constipation is brought on by the American diet of too much sugar, meat, saturated fats, trans fats, dairy, white flour, baked goods and salt in combination with lack of exercise, not drinking enough water and chemicals and drugs of all kinds, whether prescribed medications or recreational. The more medications your doctor prescribes for your depression or for other health problems, such as Williams' heart medications, the more chance you have of being constipated and depressed. Medications make your intestines lax; in turn, you feel heavy and burdened. You have a hard time getting “fired-up” about things. Reinvention seems impossible, while, in reality, reinvention is ALWAYS possible.

We all know about the endorphins released by exercise. Endorphins create positive feelings in our minds and bodies. And I’m really not preaching when I say that exercise can erase depression. I know Williams had a difficult heart surgery which he himself said was so traumatic, he found himself, in recovery, weepy and vulnerable instead of strong and powerful. My husband had heart surgery and he has made lots of healthy changes since. I've seen my husband's improvement first hand and it is very inspiring. I am 63, Robin Williams’ age when he died. I am overweight. I hated to exercise – until I did – now I cannot do without the sense of strength exercising gives me in my muscles – in my legs, my belly – I can feel power in my waist when I move, a little push from inside pushing me forward, more energy, more strength, encouragement, power, the opposite of depression. I can now get out of bed without suddenly grabbing my back or tottering on unsteady legs. I was getting to the point where I could not turn in bed, not from the weight, but from complications from the weight – muscle cramping, poor circulation, weakness. That’s depressing. Most people would give up. But, as a macro, I knew, I didn’t want to go backward. I had some bad habits that were bringing me down. Oh, yes, even macros can make mistakes. The only way was forward. I started to exercise, just a little, then more and more, and the rewards were - and are - greater as the exercise increases. Not just energy, but good positive energy from the good, positive functioning of the body.

An athlete I know once told me, “I can’t tell you how big my bowel movements are after I run!” I asked her, “Where is it all coming from? You’re so thin!” She said, “I don’t know, but it sure comes out!” I said something silly like, “You better run home fast!”

Alicia Silverstone has tried to tell people about how “effortless” her bowel movements are since becoming vegan. Of course, people just laugh at her. What does an actress know about health? Try it sometime. Try being vegan for a while and see if you can get depressed. Leafy green vegetables, vegetables that grow up. These will keep you smiling. Robin Williams would have been the first to make a comedy routine out of it.

There’s a great episode of Two & a Half Men in which the young boy, Jake, is depressed and grouchy. After enduring Jake’s rude remarks and slouchy attitude for a while, the maid, Berta, hands him a jug of prune juice and says, “Here, drink this! The whole thing!” The next time we see Jake he’s back to normal, laughing, joking, eagerly running out to the beach. Berta tells his father, “All you feed him are pancakes and pizza, whaddya expect?”
Can constipation kill? John Wayne had 40 lbs of fecal matter in his intestines when he died. Elvis, whose favorite food was a bacon/peanut butter/banana sandwich, had 60 lbs. of feces inside him when he died. Certainly, these two cases are severe. I don't know if Robin Williams was anywhere near this condition. However, even being slightly constipated can slow a person down and cause other difficulties. Catherine Zeta-Jones' favorite comfort food is a spam/corn flake sandwich. I heard her tell this to an interviewer. As a macro, I can see the results of this eating in her skin. We know she is bi-polar; she's been to rehab more than once for this disorder. She's an amazing, talented, beautiful actress; it's hard to see her having trouble of any kind. According to macrobiotics,  the above mentioned snacks are a recipe for constipation, depression, and other complications.

It’s hard for people to believe that depression can be caused by something as simple as constipation and cured by something as simple as relieving your bowels. We want to think we are depressed about something important. And, we are: death, loss, war, human suffering, our own pain. But, we cannot come to grips with the world and our own pain unless we are reasonably healthy. As a macro, I do not believe that some people are so depressed they cannot be helped by positive diet and lifestyle changes or so far gone they cannot help themselves. As long as you can cook and chew, you can change. If you think you’re too depressed to cook, you are lying to yourself. You have to help yourself if you want to change. Help yourself.

I’m still angry. Angry with Robin Williams. Angry with Philip Seymour Hoffman. It also hurts me to think - they were working when they died. When I think of all the talented people who never get to work, or older actors and actresses who cannot find work, I get really angry with both Williams and Hoffman. One of the things I admired most about Robin Williams was his ability to reinvent himself. He was a crazy-great comedian. He was a brilliant serious actor. His work in the movie, One Hour Photo blew my mind. He was beyond amazing in the Law & Order, SVU, episode, Authority. They say Americans love a come back. I want to say come back, Robin. Come back, Philip. At the very least I can watch them over and over on film. I don’t need to tell you which films. You know.

Yeah, I’m angry. I’m also sad. I’ve always told my daughter, “No matter how bad things get, please remember how amazing you are. And, you never know what’s coming around the next corner. Someone as amazing as you will know how to take advantage of the next possibility.” Robin Williams took advantage of those possibilities over and over. I don’t know why he finally ran out of hope. But I can tell you I’ve seen it many times: a healthy lifestyle change can make a tremendous difference to what may seem insurmountable difficulties. You may not believe it can be that simple. But, it is.

And that makes depression even more tragic.

CNN: Dr. Amen discusses Robin Williams’ depression and the healthy benefits of diet and lifestyle changes.


***Update: We now know that Robin Williams was in the early stages of Parkinson's Disease when he died. According to macrobiotics, Parkinson's is a degenerative disease of the nervous system that is caused by long term eating of extreme yin, in the case of yin Parkinson's (shaking) and long term eating of extreme yang in the case of yang Parkinson's (seizing-up). He had been taking more medications for this condition, compounding his depression. As a macro, it is painful to hear this news because Parkinson's can be prevented, controlled, and often reversed with healthy macrobiotic changes.  It seems every day brings another sadness about Williams' death. Even Koko the gorilla who met Williams mourned him. She speaks over 1,000 words and overheard the staff talking about him. She remembered him. He had made her laugh when a gorilla friend of hers passed in 2001. Now, I realize, nature is mourning too. 

Impromptu Robin Williams Memorial at the Boston Garden bench from Good Will Hunting.

These tributes were most likely washed away by Wednesday's rains, making them even more poignant.

©PatriciaGoodwin, 2014

Patricia Goodwin is the author of many articles on GMOs, organics, and other subjects. These articles and her books may be found on her website at patriciagoodwin.com. Books on Amazon: When Two Women Die and Dreamwater.

Crime & Diet

          I have seen the power of diet. I can almost tell you that I have witnessed the lame walk and the blind see.

            I was a young woman, waitressing in a natural food restaurant in the early 1970’s. I opened the door many nights for a very crippled young man in a wheelchair who came there to enjoy the absolutely marvelous food we served in the elegant Seventh Inn Restaurant in Boston. The Seventh Inn was indeed like seventh heaven to us with its cornucopia of fresh whole grains, vegetables, soups, fish, desserts, teas, wine, and beer.  The atmosphere of light bamboo wood, rice paper screens and beautiful music and art was truly an oasis in bustling, dirty old Boston. The young man in the wheelchair had a twisted body, even in the wheelchair. His appearance was weak with a slightly greyish complexion. Over and over again, I opened the door, until one afternoon, he walked. He used two canes, and his body was still somewhat twisted to one side, but he walked.

            I cannot tell you if this young man was having successive operations on his spine or if he ate macrobiotically at home. I was too immature to follow his progress as I wish I had now. I wish I had a  documented case history to tell you, but even then it would only be considered what Western medicine calls an “anecdote.” To the young man who got up out of his wheelchair, his story would be far more than an anecdote.

Another time, I was serving Michio Kushi and another young man who was trying to change his condition through the macrobiotic diet. He had been blind, but was starting to improve. He said he was doing everything according to what he had been told by his advisor, but his progress had plateaued and he wanted to do better.

Michio nodded as he listened, the he asked, “What kind of cooking oil do you use?”

I don’t recall the exact kind of oil, but I do remember that it was a more yin oil like peanut or olive oil, not bad oils, but just not good for what this man was trying to achieve. (Yin force would spiral outward, releasing energy. Yang force spirals inward, tightening energy. Yin and yang represent the way all energy moves in the universe. Western medicine does not recognize the forces of yin and yang, but macrobiotics is based on balancing these forces.)

As I cleared the table, I learned something I have never forgotten.

Michio advised using sesame oil, a more yang oil, instead of a more yin oil, which, he said, would inform his eyes to create a more yang condition which he needed to improve his eyesight. “Cooking oil, very important, because we use every day, many times a day.” Michio said with his broken English. “Cooking oil can create yin condition or can create yang condition.”

I cannot tell you if the young man succeeded to improve his eyesight further. I don’t have any documented experimental data, but I do know from my own experience and my faith in what I have achieved on a personal level, that I believe his eyesight could have improved further by making that simple alteration in his cooking - changing his cooking oil. For another person, a different alteration might have been necessary. Every person is unique, and every person is in a constant state of change as our bodies respond to changes in life. In macrobiotics, we pay attention to the conditions of our health, and make alterations in diet and lifestyle as needed.

Macrobiotic people recognize many truths about diet in the Bible and in literature.

One example is the advice given to the mother of Samson in the Old Testament, Judges 13:

"There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. And his wife was barren and had no children. And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son…Therefore be careful and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean…She may not eat of anything that comes from the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, or eat any unclean thing.”

In the Bible “unclean” refers to meat and animal fats, including dairy, which, according to macrobiotics, can clog the fallopian tubes and interfere with the natural process of egg production. Another cause of what we consider infertility now is miscarriage, which according to macrobiotics, can be caused by the consumption of too yin foods, such as grapes and tropical fruits which cause the energy spiral to literally un-wind.

I can tell you the story of my friend Tanya who had been sent home by fertility doctors as hopeless for childbirth. After eating the macrobiotic diet, she had four children when I knew her in Boston in the 70’s.

In her book Louder Than Words: A Mother's Journey in Healing Autism, Jenny McCarthy talks about diet and its effects on autism: “A lot of people, including me, will tell you that it’s important to look into the foods you feed your kids and how they react to them. I know many other parents and doctors will agree that with autistic kids, you should go for an organic and clean diet. It worked for me to feed Evan food that is without additives, preservatives or dyes.” She also talks about the elimination of dairy, and the addition of cod liver oil, and vitamin B 12 supplements which brought back eye contact and speech in her son.

Jenny McCarthy’s success reinforces the idea of the power of diet, but it also tells me how the human race is starving for real food. Perhaps illnesses like autism would not exist if we ate real, natural food rich in vitamins and minerals as our ancestors did.

Why am I talking now of the power of diet? Because I want to tell you about Crime & Diet.

Crime & Diet: The Macrobiotic Approach (Japan Publications, 1987) is a little known book by Michio Kushi & Associates.

Like everyone else, I was horrified by the killings in Sandy Hook, CT. I was horrified before that by Columbine. Just a few days ago, on Christmas Day, I was horrified that a disturbed man, who had served 17 years previously for killing his own grandmother with a hammer, had actually shot and killed two firefighters after killing his sister and setting fire to his house. Seven houses burned from this crime on Christmas Eve.

What can we do about violence? What can we do about mental illness? Can the solution be as simple as changing diet?

One of the most direct and amazing results discussed in the book Crime & Diet came from the study done at the Tidewater Virginia Detention Home for Boys, which under the direction of Frank Kern and Stephen J. Schoenthaler, in 1981, took sugar out of the diet of the boys in the home for three months. The boys, ages 12-18, were in detention for crimes including alcohol and narcotic violations, disorderly conduct, larceny and burglary. During the time sugar was not in their diets, the boys’ incidents of violence decreased by 45%.

The results of the Tidewater experiment exploded on the media and medical scene. Criticism abounded about non-scientific results. However, we now realize the connection between sugar and violent behavior.

One of the simplest truths about diet we find in the Dickens’ novel, Oliver Twist. In the scene when Oliver gets into a fight at the undertakers where he is apprenticed, he gets trapped in the coffin, but he is not afraid of the officer who comes to arrest him. In fact, he shouts at the officer from inside the coffin. The undertaker’s wife says he must be mad to speak to an official that way, and the officer says, “It’s not madness, mum, it’s meat! If you had kept him on a diet of gruel, this never would have happened.”

I’m not suggesting that people eat gruel to keep from being violent. In fact, gruel, or oatmeal, in the Oliver Twist story was watered down and not very life-sustaining.  A vivid example of the power of diet as the idea was to keep the children weak and docile. However, cereal made from whole grain is extremely powerful and life sustaining, traditionally a peasant food. The peasants, of course, were a lot stronger and healthier than the noblemen who ate as much meat and sugar and drank as much wine and brandy as they pleased.

In macrobiotics, we learn about the affects of diet on physical health, but also on mental health, behavior and violence. Crime & Diet tells many stories of people who found relief from the violent thoughts that tormented them by discovering macrobiotics.

I can only tell a few details here, but you can read all their stories, told in their own words, in Crime & Diet.

Peter, a 28-year-old artist was institutionalized with symptoms of schizophrenia. “Mental illness,” he said in Crime & Diet, "is like cancer; it’s a life growing inside your head that is alien to your own life.” Peter started taking drugs after high school, LSD, mescaline, marijuana to stop his feelings of alienation. The drugs didn’t work; they only made his feelings more intense and chaotic. He had the chance to begin macrobiotics while in the hospital. Slowly, he began to feel stronger physically and mentally. At the time of publication, he had been well for many years, while continuing macrobiotics, and in his words, “taking on bigger challenges in life.”

David was a lazy college student who recalled, “hating life” the day his friend left a pile of cookbooks for him outside his door. He was intrigued by one of them, called "Zen Macrobiotic Cooking." David describes walking the streets at night in a Thorazine haze. One day he wandered into a health food store. He tried cooking brown rice and failed miserably. He went back to his old diet but became more depressed and bored with life. By chance, he saw an ad for macrobiotic cooking classes and began cooking again. Gradually, he was able to stop Thorazine completely. David said, “After showing me the need for good food, macrobiotics has brought me to an understanding of the spirit of life. I have been shown how to express my thanks and the importance of this expression every day. I have learned to pray. And for those who suffer from frustrating and confused states of mind, I pray every day.”

I don’t wonder at the depression, confusion, rage and violence that accompany the Western diet of junk food and processed foods devoid of true nutritional value. Artificial vitamins added back into processed foods cannot sustain human life. Wheat, for instance, loses its nutritional value one hour after it is ground from the whole grain into flour. That makes bread, breakfast cereal, crackers, bagels, muffins, pizza dough, etc. empty of anything but added salt, added sugar, artificial vitamins, preservatives, artificial coloring and flavor enhancers. Dehydration is another insidious condition that arises from reliance on meat, designer coffees and flour products plus the intake of excessive, hidden salt in processed foods. Because of heavy salt content in our food and other factors, such as air conditioning in buildings and cars, we have actually started to carry water bottles with us wherever we go. Dehydration causes many symptoms, including depression and quickness to anger. Add alcohol and inhibitions disappear while dehydration increases. Add drugs, and behavior goes off the charts.

In Crime & Diet, in the chapter titled "A Crime-Free World", Michio and Aveline talk about visiting Linhó Prison in Portugal. There they met many prisoners who had begun macrobiotics. Michio and Aveline were stunned by their enthusiasm and by their questions, which were about spirituality and philosophy rather than questions about their personal conditions. Aveline said, “Before I went to Linhó, I was a little scared, as I had never been in a prison…But once there, everyone was so eager to study, asking questions with shining eyes…”

People who begin macrobiotics tell us that one of the most important lessons they learn is to appreciate the simple, most wonderful things in life. If you can’t appreciate simplicity, you will never be happy. When I was little, my mother and I used to watch the sparrows play in the sand lighted by the twilight sun. We were mesmerized by their joy. I still love to watch the birds play. I also enjoy washing dishes, seeing the water sparkle and the dishes come clean. If you can’t enjoy the simple moments of life, if you want an expensive car or a huge TV or diamonds or gold and the latest designer clothes, you will never be satisfied. You will always want more and you will resent people who have those things. It’s a dead end. The only freedom is in simplicity.

As I pray for the souls of the murdered children from Sandy Hook, I find that I also want to pray for the hearts and minds of those who are violent now, that they may find peace. It may be difficult to feel compassion for criminals, but they, and the world, need our prayers.


**UPDATE: Obviously, I don't need to list the additional school shootings we've suffered since Sandy Hook, nor the acts of terrorism, nor the other horrors of crime. My hope is that this article, never more relevant, will help people. To clear their minds and hearts from the despair and the rage that comes with despair. You may say that victims and criminals eat the same foods, but I can assure you, they don't. Neither do they start at the same level playing field. Everyone must decide if they are going to be a giver or a taker in life. Good or evil. Macrobiotics can help people be stronger and happier. I know this to be true.

***Note: If you wish to begin the macrobiotic diet, please consult with a physician. I recommend starting slowly, by adding brown rice to your diet and taking away all land salt (substitute sea salt). Take away sugars, chemicals, preservatives, dyes and processed foods. You may even take them away gradually, which will be easy, for you will find that after eating brown rice, all unhealthy foods will become unappetizing to you. Also I highly recommend beginning the diet and lifestyle under the supervision of an experienced macrobiotic cook and advisor who can guide you through any questions or problems. 

Here is a list of macrobiotic sources:

Denny Waxman - https://www.facebook.com/dennywaxman/

or https://dennywaxman.com

https://www.facebook.com/VeganNatural/

Susan Krieger - http://www.susankriegerhealth.com

©Patricia Goodwin, 2013