WHEN YOU LIE UPON YOUR DEATH BED ~ WHAT WILL HAVE BEEN THE IMPORTANT THINGS YOU DID

OR SAID?

To gain and keep perspective in my life, I visualize and feel what I expect to feel if I get to my end knowing my death is soon to be. It instantly makes all things right for me. What will be important then comes front and center and what I once labored or fretted over just loses its grip on me. It won't matter that my family is broken, disconnected or differs from me in their beliefs, politics and ways of handling the truth. What will matter is how I lived my life. What I said, but more how I said... It will matter to me if I chose to be silent when I should have spoken up. Clear and with passion. It will matter to me if I consistently had truth as my anchor, strength and target.

This is one of those things that has my attention. And I feel stories such as these are neglected, dismissed and thrown out while our narcissism consumes our behavior.


The following is from the Enough Project

September 30, 2008

Peace process near collapse in eastern Congo

The peace process in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo is on the verge of collapse due to resumed hostilities between Government forces and rebels loyal to Congolese general Laurent Nkunda. Absent immediate and robust diplomatic pressure on the Congolese government and a more impartial effort by United Nations peacekeepers to stop the fighting, the region could descend back into total war.

After weeks of tit-for-tat violence, large-scale fighting between the Congolese army and Nkunda's National Congress for the Defense of People, or CNDP, began again on August 28 in the territory of Rutshuru, North Kivu. Violence has since spread to Masisi territory in North Kivu, and Kalehe territory in South Kivu. The clashes are the largest violations to date of the cease-fire agreement signed last January in Goma (capital of North Kivu) between the Congolese government, the CNDP, and 21 other armed groups active in the East.

The fighting has newly displaced an estimated 100,000 civilians in North Kivu, and has curtailed access for humanitarian aid agencies across the province. On September 25, the Enough Project -along with 82 other NGOs-released a statement on the humanitarian costs of faltering peace efforts. This follow-up examines why those diplomatic efforts are failing and what steps the international community must immediately take to halt the violence and reinvigorate the peace process.

• To read the full statement, click here
• To read the Congo Advocacy Coalition's September 25 release, click here
• To join our Raise Hope for Congo Campaign and learn what you can do to help protect and empower Congolese women, click here

Check out the Enough Project's website for our new Raise Hope for Congo Campaign