OUT OF THE DARKNESS COMMUNITY WALK

WALK WILL RAISE MONEY
FOR SUICIDE PREVENTION GROUP

http://blogs.fredericksburg.com - Every 15 minutes, a person in the United States dies by suicide, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. More than 36,000 lives are claimed annually, and suicide is the second leading cause of death for teens and young adults in the nation, according to the AFSP. For the past four years, Fredericksburg area residents have participated in Out of the Darkness Community Walks to raise awareness and money to prevent suicides.
Sarah Adams and other Courtland High School students started the Spotsylvania chapter of Out of the Darkness in 2008 after three of their classmates committed suicide within a year and a half. Adams said she and a friend approached a guidance counselor about starting the chapter after the tragedies, and school officials were very supportive. This year, the 5k local walk at Spotsylvania Courthouse Village will take place Oct. 20.

This local Out of the Darkness walk is one of more than 200 taking place across the nation this fall. Proceeds from the walks go to the AFSP, a national not-for-profit organization dedicated to funding scientific research, increasing education and awareness of mental health disorders, promoting policies and legislation that impact suicide prevention and providing support programs for those affected by suicide. Since 2000, the AFSP has given more than $10 million in grants to scientific research on the neurobiological, genetic, epidemiological, clinical, psychological and sociological aspects of suicide, says the AFSP website.
Although a financial donation is not required to participate in the walk, Adams said the goal is to have 300 participants in the local walk and to raise $20,000 for the AFSP. The organizers already have surpassed their goal for participants, with 338 registered as of Oct. 12.  Adams said the community and local businesses have responded well to the cause over the past five years.

“We would walk a million miles to see you smile one last time,” 
read a T-shirt of an attendant in the community walk.

In the United States, a person dies by suicide every 15 minutes and it is estimated that an attempt is made every minute. AFSP is urging the state Legislatures to adopt a bill that would require suicide-prevention training for teachers and other school personnel. “Out Of The Darkness Community Walk” event is held in many places across the USA to bring awareness to the problem with suicide. At the walk, attendees could put photos or name tags of loved ones on a commemorative wall. Some photos featured young people in graduation robes or parents with children in better times. “We want to measure their lives by how they lived, not by how they died,” said Ms. Wallace, an event organizer. Today, more than ever, we should go into Spirituality which can provide inner joy and free us from frustrations and suicidal tendencies.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared that mental diseases - stress, depression, addiction and psychosomatic problems - will be the greatest health hazard of the current century. Worse still, WHO statistics show that over one million people commit suicide every year. This is more than the total annual deaths due to wars and crimes combined. And this figure is only the reported number of suicides. Mental disease in general and suicide in particular has many causes. But the common origin is frustration in achieving one's goals, whatever they may be. When this frustration rises to an acute and hopeless degree, one feels one's very existence to be an agony. And the ending of one's existence appears to be the only solution to that agony. It is then that the person commits suicide. ... Spirituality is not just a part of our life; it is the essence of our life. Stephen Covey, well-known author of the Seven Habits series, aptly remarks, “We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey.”

Śrīpad Chaitanya Charan das :
“The Spiritual Scientist”
“When Science Points To Spirituality”
Vol 3 Issue 1 - http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/
http://www.thespiritualscientist.com/2011/12/when-science-points-to-spirituality/

Published by dasavatara das - "Vedic Views on World News"
http://www.vedicviews-worldnews.blogspot.com.ar/

POPE LAMENTS ‘AMNESIA’ ABOUT GOD DURING SPAIN TRIP

POPE LAMENTED “AMNESIA” ABOUT GOD,
A DENIAL OF THE TREASURE OF OUR FAITH

Madrid (AP) - Pope Benedict XVI lamented Friday what he called modern society’s “amnesia” about God as he traveled to a famed Spanish monastery on the second day of his four-day visit for the church’s world youth festival.  Several hundred young nuns cheered, waved flags and performed the “wave” at El Escorial monastery as they waited for Benedict inside a courtyard of the 16th-century complex, a UNESCO world heritage site.  Benedict told them their decisions to dedicate their lives to their faith was a potent message in today’s increasingly secular world.  “This is all the more important today when we see a certain eclipse of God taking place, a kind of amnesia which albeit not an outright rejection of Christianity is nonetheless a denial of the treasure of our faith, a denial that could lead to the loss of our deepest identity,” he said.

As he arrived Thursday, Benedict offered words of encouragement to young people facing precarious futures because of the economic crisis, calling for policy makers to take ethical considerations that look out for the common good into account when formulating economic policy.  Benedict’s main priority as pope has been to try to reawaken Christianity in places like Spain, a once staunchly Catholic country that has drifted far from its pious roots.  He has traveled here three times as pope, an indication that he views it as the key battleground as he tries to remind Europe of its Christian heritage and the place he believes God should still have in everyday life.  Later Friday, he will have lunch with a dozen young volunteers of World Youth Day.

Pope Benedict XVI has said modern society is suffering “amnesia” about God on the second day of his four-day visit to Madrid for World Youth Day events.  Benedict denounced the profit-at-all-cost mentality that he says is behind Europe’s current economic crisis and said morals and ethics must play a greater role in formulating economic policy in the future.  Addressing the nuns, Benedict said “In a world of relativism and mediocrity, we need that radicalism to which your consecration, as a way of belonging to the God who is loved above all things, bears witness.”  Unless one practices celibacy, advancement in spiritual life is very difficult.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Celibacy is such an important part of Vedic education that the Sanskrit word for student is brahmacari (“celibate”).  The pressure to give up celibacy begins, of course, in adolescence, the most dangerous age and often the turning point of one’s life.  Young adults need guidance before and during the teenage years to recognize and follow the right path.  Celibacy trains adolescents for self-restraint, whether they stay single or get married.  It develops their inner strength, self-control, and good character.  It also fosters good health and a fine memory.  Without celibacy we can never realize that we are spirit soul, distinct from the body.  Sex reinforces the illusion that we are these bodies.  Sexual attraction and its extensions in family and society are the main knots that bind us to material identification. Vedic education aims to free the child from these knots so the adolescent can act on the spiritual plane.

Śrīmati Urmila devi dasi :
“Teens and Celibacy”
http://urmila.me.uk/
http://www.brahmacarya.info/2010/03/teens-and-celibacy/