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Maati Talk MT 188
Flighted 11 December 2011. 
INTRODUCTION
Another year becomes the dust of memory, while a new one looms ahead. And I really mean looms, with all sorts of signs and portents but with the promise that, at the end, there will be a New Heaven and a New Earth. What those New places will be like and how we get to them is the inspiring way ahead. Don’t you think it’s exciting to be alive and awake at this time? To be given the opportunity to ponder things we have not considered before? To push us towards making those reconciliations we needed to make?
MY PRODUCTS.
The kits of CDs and the individual CDs make good and appreciated gifts. (Go Here.) The sale prices are still available until the end of next week.
I have a few TIME TIMERS in stock and these also make excellent gifts. The recipients will bless you for years! ( Go Here.)
On your request I can post them to whoever you want with a note that they come from you.
The FIVE WORLD WAVES
Under Maati Talks there is a new section that allows easy access to the notes on these waves. (Go Here.) You can choose which wave to read about and then access the individual Wave Updates separately. These will be added to with each new Maati Talk.
There is a wealth of information in these notes and, although generally depressing, they lead to a refreshing new outlook. You can go there at your leisure during the holidays.
SKOLLIKAT
The feral cat that uses our cottage as a base has been such a revelation to me that he now has been given his own section on this site. (Go Here.) If you are a cat lover you may find this interesting.
YEAR-END STORY.
It has been my custom for many years, to include in the last issue of Maati Talk for the year, some Year-End thoughts from my favorite US author/philosopher Robert Fulghum. You will find these at the end as it is appropriate to let Robert have the last word.
 NEWSCLIPS 27 Nov -11 Dec 2011
HEALTH – BODY
Over 40% of cancers due to lifestyle, says review. (Go Here.)
HEALTH – MIND
If suicide is the answer, what is the question? When a seemingly contented man such as Gary Speed takes his own life, loved ones may wonder how they missed the warning signs. But too often, there are none, says the psychotherapist Phillip Hodson. (Go Here.)
How to repair your memory: From long-haul travel to not eating enough meat, forgetfulness has many causes, but there is a fix. (Go Here.)
No need to fake it tonight, darling. Just try pepper gel: An expert guide to boosting libido. (Go Here.)
Violent games DO alter your brain - and the effect is visible in MRI scans in just a week. (Go Here.)
Jab that halts Alzheimer's before it can destroy lives. (Go Here.)
So it's not nonsense! Probiotic drinks that tame irritable bowels. (Go Here.)
Ecstasy can produce chronic long-lasting changes to the human brain, say scientists. (Go Here.)
Doctors in Chains. Antidepressants Cause Violence and Murder. by Dr Mark Sircus. (Go Here.)
CYBER COMMUNICATIONS
Shops are secretly tracking your every move by snooping on your mobile - WITHOUT asking permission. (Go Here.)
Kindle Fire crackles into life - tablet outsells iPad on Black Friday, says U.S. retailer Target. (Go Here.)
Facebook forced to overhaul privacy policy after regulator finds it is 'unfair and deceptive'. (Go Here.)
One of biggest information technology companies in the world to abolish e-mails. (Go Here.)
Revealed: The 'secret' app installed on millions of mobile phones that records your keystrokes, your browsing and reads your messages. (Go Here.)
Kindle, Sony or Apple: Which e-reader do you want for Christmas? (Go Here.)
Mischa Glenny's Darkmarket: Cyberthieves, cybercops and you.
Are we facing the death of email? First the Twitterati logged off. Now a high-tech office has abandoned it altogether. So is the writing on the wall for our most popular form of communication? (Go Here.)
MISC
Lord Archer: 'I'm a natural barrow boy'. (Go Here.)
Making a splash: Specialist swimming centre opens first pool just for babies. (Go Here.)
S*** my kids ruined: Parents reveal hilarious photographs of the damage to pets and property caused by their mischievous children. (Go Here.)
Parents do know best: Using hummus to tempt children into eating veg works. (Go Here.)
The Frankenburger: Why 'cultured meat' is humanity's destiny. (Go Here.)
New 'super-Photoshop' lets fakers add anything to photos in minutes - and you can't tell the difference. (Go Here.)
END PIECE
Using the cashpoint. Nipping to the shops. The heart-warming story of the pups giving hope to war heroes. (Go Here.)
Next Maati Talk is scheduled for 8 January 2012.
May all of you have a peaceful and inspiring Christmas and then a special New Year party.
It may the last one we celebrate so let’s let it sparkle.
 Maati
YEAR-END STORY from Robert Fulghum.
From an interview with him some years ago he notes that although his books have been unexpectedly successful he continues to be taught humility. One such experience happened in Europe and actually became two humble pies in one road trip.
"My books have done extraordinarily well in the Czech language. Like the all time best English language sales in Czech. So I'm thinking, 'Why is this true?' So I went to Prague and I was going to do a book signing and there was this incredible line. And it looked like it was going on forever. So I stopped at the end of the line and I thought, these people always have to line up for bread or sausages or whatever. So I asked this woman why she was standing in line. And she said, 'Oh: Robert Fulghum.' And I said, 'That's me!' And she picked up the book and she looked at the back and she said, 'No. He's much better looking than you are."
The Czech Republic experience was not over yet. "So that night we're at a big banquet that the publisher threw. And I said to her, 'Why are my books so well received in the Czech Republic?' And she asked if I wanted to know the truth. And I told her I did. And she said, 'It's because your translator is a much better writer than you are.' And how would I know? I don't read Czech."
Fulghum does not see himself as a great writer. Perhaps, in some ways, he barely sees himself as a writer at all. Rather he is someone who had thoughts to share that people happened to want to hear. Here are some of the latest:
“REDEMPTION
An old man stares with delight out the window of the retirement home at the sudden appearance of a lighted Christmas tree in the winter darkness.
They call it the Miracle of the Tree. It will be lit only one night.
He’s told this happens every year and nobody knows how or why.
The old man once knew the truth about the tree, but his mind has forgotten.
Many years ago when he was a kid he wanted his own Christmas tree.
He “borrowed” a small fir tree that lived in a pot on a neighbor’s terrace.
He had to cut the tree down to get it into his bedroom.
The experience was bittersweet - pleasure tainted with remorse.
Years later, out of guilt for his crime, he bought a tree to replace the one he had stolen, but too late - the neighbor had moved away.
So he planted the tree in an empty space on the lawn of an old folk’s home.
The man kept his eye on it and the tree lived on and grew tall.
One year the man decided to secretly decorate the tree for one night.
Using a car battery he lit the tree with sparkling lights on Christmas Eve.
And took the lights away in the middle of the next night.
The old people looked forward to this annual surprise - the sudden appearance of something lovely in the middle of midwinter darkness.
Nobody ever found out who lit the tree or why.
Now the man himself is old and in the retirement home.
And the tree is still being decorated.
His mind cannot remember his part in the Miracle of the Tree.
But it seems that somebody else knew and remembers.
The lighted tree still shines forth on Christmas Eve.
And, in a small way, for a short time, the graceful spirit of the season is redeemed from darkness once more.
Redemption is a weighty word.
A Christian theologian would explain it in terms of sin, salvation, and the grace of Almighty God. A relevant notion at this Christmas season.
On the other hand, redemption has lightweight uses.
A drugstore clerk might explain it simply as what happens when you turn in three free coupons for a special new size of toothpaste.
It’s a matter of scale, I suppose.
And in between . . . on very personal private level redemption means restitution, compensation, and even repentance.
Sometimes I ask people a question for which I do not expect or want a detailed answer, only acknowledgement that they do have an answer.
Here’s the question:
Are there small things you have done sometime in your life that you regret?
When you were unkind, mean, thoughtless, selfish, or just stupid?
The answer is always a solemn shaking of the head - Yes, of course.
The next question is: And are there times now when you do something in a very private way to more a less balance your own books. When you are generous, kind, self-less, and even wise?
Every time I’ve asked so far the reply comes with a smile - Yes.
And the last question is: Does anyone else know what you’ve done or why?
And the answer is always the same: No.
By the very nature of the question and the answers the details are not provided or required. The discussion is necessarily abstract and awkward.
It’s enough to know this is going on in the world.
In my own life there is a long record of things I wish I had not done or said.
Toxic contributions to the darker side of being human.
Nobody but me really knew I had acted dishonorably.
And I would not tell anyone now.
But I have not forgotten.
But, inexplicably, at this winding down season of the year I find in myself the urge to do small things that somehow make up for some of the blots on my record. I can’t undo the past, or directly compensate for the past, but I can act in the present in a way that increases my self-respect. And by acting with grace toward other people, feel a sense of redemptive grace in myself.
I ask the question of others because I want confirmation that I am not alone in this feeling and quest.
I ask to be reminded that, even though I don’t know the details, redemption on a small scale is going on in my world all around me.
And, like the story of the old man in the nursing home, in the most roundabout ways the past gets rectified and things work out for the best sometimes.
Light of all kinds redeems darkness of all kinds, more often than not.
No act of kindness is wrong.
No gesture of grace is lost.
No act of redemption is wasted.
So say I.
My wish for you, in this season, is that you find this true in your life and carry on the good work of balancing your private account books.
Only you will know.
But that’s enough.”
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