T P O

T   P   O
The Patient Ox (aka Hénock Gugsa)

G r e e t i n g s !

** TPO **
A personal blog with diverse topicality and multiple interests!


On the menu ... politics, music, poetry, and other good stuff.
There is humor, but there is blunt seriousness here as well!


Parfois, on parle français ici aussi. Je suis un francophile .... Bienvenue à tous!

* Your comments and evaluations are appreciated ! *

Thursday, September 6, 2018

Pierre Rabhi, farmer philosopher ~ by TPO



Pierre Rabhi, paysan philosophe *
Pierre Rabhi, farmer philosopher
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Le paysan, écrivain, philosophe et poète Pierre Rabhi, 80 ans, a largement atteint l’âge d’une retraite bien méritée.   Il n’arrête pourtant pas et reçoit 600 demandes de participation à des conférences chaque année ! Ce jour-là, il se rend dans un lieu de formation qu’il a ouvert avec des amis en Ardèche. On y apprend notamment à faire pousser de bons légumes en respectant la terre nourricière.
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80 year-old farmer, writer, philosopher and poet Pierre Rabhi  has on the whole reached the age for a well-earned retreat.  However, he has not gone entirely idle and receives 600 invitations a year to participate in conferences!  On this [particular] day, we meet him at the location he and his friends had opened in Ardeche.  There we properly learn how to plant vegetables while at the same time respectfully nourishing the soil.
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"Ce n’est pas seulement un lieu d’apprentissage, c’est aussi une philosophie, explique le paysan le plus célèbre de France et pionnier de l'agriculture bio au magazine "13h15 le dimanche."  Nous pensons maintenant qu'il faut que les citoyens se réapproprient leur capacité de survie.  On a des gens hors sol, concentrés dans des villes, avec des camions qui leur apportent à manger", précise l’auteur de Vers la sobriété heureuse (Actes Sud) et de La Puissance de la modération (Hozhoni).  "On est en train de leur faire un monde invivable."
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To the magazine, 13h15 le dimanche, the most celebrated farmer of France and bio-agriculturist pioneer explains, "This is not simply a place of apprenticeship, it is also a philosophy."   " We now think that citizens must recapture their capacity to survive.  We have folk with no connection to the soil, living massed in cities, with trucks that bring them food to eat,"  states the author of "Vers la sobriété heureuse (Actes Sud) et de La Puissance de la modération (Hozhoni)."  He says, "We are in the process of making the world uninhabitable for them."
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"Pour moi, cultiver son jardin, c’est un acte politique.  C’est un acte de résistance légitime à des systèmes qui confisquent toute possibilité au citoyen de survivre par lui-même, pour le rendre entièrement dépendant.  Et la
disparition de la biodiversité est devenue une problématique extrêmement grave.  Ah, je me demande parfois
pourquoi je m’emmerde avec tout ça.  Et pourquoi je ne passe pas une retraite tranquille..." s’interroge-t-il en souriant.
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"For me, cultivating my own garden is a political act.  It is an act of legitimate resistance against [those] systems which deny all possibility to the citizen to survive by himself, and to render him totally dependent.  And the disappearance of biodiversity has become a hugely serious problem.  I sometimes ask myself why I give a shit about all of that.  And why I don't just move on to a quiet retreat ..." he says laughing.
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Alors, pourquoi n’arrête-t-il pas un peu ? "Eh bien parce que je ne peux pas. Si je ne le fais pas, je ne dormirais pas bien. C’est comme s’il y avait le feu et qu’on dise n’en avoir rien à foutre.  Il y a le feu et il faut l'éteindre.  C’est un devoir.  Vous avez des enfants ?  On est en train de leur faire un monde invivable.  Tous ces salopards de gens qui n’ont d’autre préoccupation que de faire du profit … Ils se foutent littéralement de l’avenir de l’humanité.  Non, on ne peut pas ... Là, on est obligé de prendre le maquis.  On ne peut pas faire autrement !" affirme Pierre Rabhi dans son éternelle chemise à carreaux.
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So then, why doesn't he take a break?  "Well, because I can't.  If I don't do it, I will never be able to get a good night's sleep.  It's as if there were a fire, and we said we don't give a damn.  There is a fire and it must be put out.  It is a duty.  Do you have children?  We are in the process of making the world uninhabitable for them.  All these bastards who are preoccupied with nothing but reaping profit ... they are literally damning to hell the future of humanity.  No, it can't be .... On that, we must go underground [form a resistance movement].  We cannot do otherwise!" asserts Pierre Radhi wearing his checkered shopworn shirt.
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* Source: "13h15 le dimanche". Pierre Rabhi : objectif Terre ~ francetvinfo.fr

Sunday, September 2, 2018

Eternal Internal Beauty ~ by TPO


Eternal Internal Beauty 
 ~ by TPO ~
Eternal Internal Beauty !!!
~~ የዘላለም  የውስጥ  ውበት !!! ~~
**===============**

Oh I am love, loving this poem.

Beneath The Sweater And The Skin
How many years of beauty do I have left?
she asks me.

How many more do you want?
Here. Here is 34. Here is 50.

When you are 80 years old
and your beauty rises in ways
your cells cannot even imagine now
and your wild bones grow luminous and
ripe, having carried the weight
of a passionate life.

When your hair is aflame
with winter
and you have decades of
learning and leaving and loving
sewn into
the corners of your eyes
and your children come home
to find their own history
in your face.

When you know what it feels like to fail
ferociously
and have gained the
capacity
to rise and rise and rise again.

When you can make your tea
on a quiet and ridiculously lonely afternoon
and still have a song in your heart
Queen owl wings beating
beneath the cotton of your sweater.

Because your beauty began there
beneath the sweater and the skin,
remember?

This is when I will take you
into my arms and coo
YOU BRAVE AND GLORIOUS THING
you've come so far.

I see you.
Your beauty is breathtaking.
___________________
** by  Jeannette Encinias **