Tags: Aung San Suu Kyi, Iron Orchid, Michael Aris, The Lady
The Lady – Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi Posted on May 15th, 2012
Sadly, across the world there have been precious few female leaders – compared to male, only a handful. One such woman who stands out, is Burmese freedom fighter Aung San Suu Kyi recently portrayed in the compelling film The Lady, which documents her life, as she becomes the core of Burma’s democracy movement, and her relationship with her husband, British writer Michael Aris.
Since 1988, when her commitment to Burmese democracy began, to the present day, Aung San Suu Kyi, has endured house arrest for many years, imprisonment and forced separation from her beloved husband Michael, who subsequently died from prostate cancer. Now, Nobel Laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi, stands as the first female member of the Burmese “democratic” parliament. On May 2, 2012, Burma took another historic step on the road to democracy when opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy members assumed their seats in parliament alongside the military-backed government.
Adoringly called the “Iron Orchid” by millions, with unwavering courage, Aung San Suu Kyi has stared down her enemies and pressed for democracy in her country, decimated at the hands of the military junta which has ruled with an iron fist for the past 49 years. This has been a long battle, but from what we have seen in other countries around the world, a battle which countless people are determined to win. Outside parliament after the solemn swearing in ceremony Ms Suu Kyi underscored her determination to carry on the struggle that condemned her to isolation for years and made her one of the world’s most prominent prisoners of conscience. No doubt we will hear more from Aung San Suu Kyi, in the meantime – go and see the film.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1802197/
http://www.notablebiographies.com/An-Ba/Aung-San-Suu-Kyi.html
Tags: Crystal Cathedral, Garden Grove, Robert H. Schuller, Robert Schuller
Crystal Cathedral Files For Bankruptcy Posted on May 7th, 2012
This latest piece of news is a story about a wonderful man who created an edifice that came tumbling down, as part of the economic fallout in the United States. The Crystal Cathedral, a mega-church in Garden Grove California, founded by television evangelist Robert H. Schuller in 1995, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October last year, to restructure its staggering debt. Let this be a lesson for us all. I believe that based on circumstances, what we have created in the name of God or Spirit can be destroyed or dissolved at any time. The Crystal Cathedral, in its heyday held multiple services attended by thousands, with pageants and performances of epic proportions. Who didn’t want to attend a service at the Crystal Cathedral, just to hear Pastor Schuller one of the great orators of our time, deliver the sermon? This is what can happen when one person is “holding the focus” for a huge organization. When that person dies or retires, sometimes, the momentum behind the edifice is simply not there. And this is what happened to the Crystal Cathedral, which was recently sold to the Catholic Church for 57 million dollars. Family members, who were groomed to take over, did not have the magic of the original founder who held the vision for the church. Attendance dropped. Ticket sales were down. Sad but true. Make what you can of your life, spread the word, transform others, but don’t create an edifice that cannot continue without you.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/business/2011/11/bankrupt-crystal-cathedral-sold-to-catholics-for-57m/