ComE 2 mE all tHosE wHo aRe tHirSty...

I begin this post with some words from Jesus :
" - Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I WILL GIVE YOU REST. Take my yoke upon you and LEARN FROM ME, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."...
I write this because of the many feed-backs I've been having since the news started to spread...

It seems like people are thirsty and longing for rest... rest for their tiring souls, rest from a crazy life, rest from other bad news...

And it all made me wonder this morning ... " God, what are you up to?"

I don't know really... As I had no idea all this would happen when I first came here...
a little worry came to my mind...
I do hope people would not see me or this place as some extraordinary thing... I'm not any different than anyone else... this place is not any different than any other...
But maybe it simply mirrors people's expectations... people's longings in the depths of their hearts... people are tired of living life as they are living... life lost its natural meaning... people are starting to question... and that's why they immediately respond when they see what they are looking for... and they realise they are not crazy, they are not alone, and that it is possible to live differently...

I recently finished this book, Jesus for President , by Shane Claiborne, an ordinary radical who stands for Jesus' Kingdom on earth in a country (USA) where Christianity went so off track... he compares this times with Jesus' time, when the Israelis were living under The Roman empire's dictatorship...
well, today we don't really think we're under any imperialist ruler, but if we'd be honest, we'd realise we are living in a kind of slavery, under the Empire of money...
Money is ruling people's lives, and we can't imagine life without money anymore... well, some people in Brazil are already proving that we don't really need money... Check this out....
Often we forget that we are the Government... Instead of simply complaining about our Governments, let us be the Government and be the difference... Shane was sharing how he and his community collect money from all in order to pay the medical bills of those who need... That's the power of community... today I'm in need, tomorrow it's you, and I can give...
there is much we lost when we stopped living in community...
I was visiting some old ladies from the village yesterday and they were saying how their children and grandchildren are all in the cities, working for money and buying flats in buildings... while they have land they cannot work anymore (one of them was 92 years old)... all is left for them is to sell these lands (or their heirs would do it anyway once they die)... their children and grandchildren just want the money, this is sad...
So, I urge, specially the portuguese, to come back to the countryside...for I know most of those who are living now in the cities have their grandmas in the countryside, have their roots in the countryside...
And our countryside is being deserted... it needs to be populated again, it needs life again, it needs to be cared for again... before big industries and chemical agriculture takes over...
We have such a lovely and pleasant country still... we still keep the authenticity that most of the northern european countries lost...
And you know what is happening?!! Most of these pieces of land all over Portugal, most of the farms that our parents and grandparents, and great-grandparents built up, are being abandoned, or bought by foreigners...
I have nothing against foreigners, I don't really care about nationalities, but it's a shame that portuguese people are still so immeshed in the illusion of money and greed...
a friend of mine, Marcia, who lived here and is coming back soon after some time in Mexico, wrote a nice article (in portuguese)about "Making Greed history", in order to make poverty history...
Most of the people that pass by the Mount of Oaks, are foreigners... Even this blog I write, I write it in english, not because I think it's "cool", but because most of the people who read it are foreigners...
All those who come here love Povoa de Atalaia and other villages around, and how simply people still leave... How "remote" it still is for most of them... I had many people coming here who never ate a fruit out of a tree in their entire lives... who are amazed with the old people who still live their lives in the land, instead of being locked and forgotten in old-people's homes... 
Aren't we privileged still?!!

I hope finally portuguese are waking up, and I hope it's not too late for some to change... it is not impossible !!! that's probably what has been attracting so many people by the news... 
we have a richness that no money can buy... and I hope we don't fall into the illusion of wanting to be like the so called "rich" nations... going after the illusion of the "american dream", the "big mac" and a "Coca-cola", seating in front of a big Tv screen watching the days pass by...

We are the ones who choose... and don't come with that lie that farming it's hard... it's not... it's a lie sold by those who want you to believe that... and I love to get in the end of the day tired but satisfied and happy with my work.... working is not a bad thing... it's healthy and it's a blessing...

I was watching some people the other day also making vegetable gardens in the centre of Lisbon, or others who lost their jobs in factories going back to their lands to farm...

this is it !!! 

I hope more follow these examples...

I hope people don't just cross their arms and complain about life...

It is our choice in the end...

And our choices will affect other people's lives as well... 

we are but "ordinary radicals"... and YOU can be one as well...