I know how to draw the line only where it is easy to draw. It is easy – it is even a luxury – to deny oneself the use of a television set, and I zealously practice that form of self-denial. Every time I see television (at other people’s houses), I am more inclined to congratulate myself on my deprivation. I have no doubt, as I have said, that I am better off without a computer. I joyfully deny myself a motorboat, a camping van, an off-road vehicle, and every other kind of recreational machinery. I have, and want, no ‘second home.’ I suffer very comfortably the lack of colas, TV dinners, and other counterfeit foods and beverages.

I am, however, still in bondage to the automobile industry and the energy companies, which have nothing to recommend them except our dependence on them. I still fly on airplanes, which have nothing to recommend them but speed; they are inconvenient, uncomfortable, undependable, ugly, stinky, and scary. I still cut my wood with a chainsaw, which has nothing to recommend it but speed, and has all the faults of an airplane, except it does not fly.

It is plain to me that the line ought to be drawn without fail wherever it can be drawn easily. And it ought to be easy (though many do not find it so) to refuse to buy what one does not need. If you are already solving your problem with the equipment you have – a pencil, say – why solve it with something more expensive and more damaging? If you don’t have a problem, why pay for a solution? If you love the freedom and elegance of simple tools, why encumber yourself with something complicated?

And yet, if we are ever again to have a world fit and pleasant for little children, we are surely going to have to draw the line where it is not easily drawn. We are going to have to learn to give up things that we have learned (in only few years, after all) to ‘need.’ I am not an optimist; I am afraid that I won’t live long enough to escape my bondage to the machines. Nevertheless, on every day left to me I will search my mind and circumstances for the means of escape. And I am not without hope. I knew a man who, in the age of chainsaws, went right on cutting his wood with a handsaw and an axe. He was a healthier and a saner man than I am. I shall let his memory trouble my thoughts." - Wendell Berry, from "Feminism, the Body, and the Machine (1989)"

May the God of heaven and earth guide, protect and bless you forever.

May our love keep binding us stronger and stronger.

Happy birthday!

Love you,

Jan Jaap

Compassionate, honorable, fair-minded and loyal are more than just words (if I were trying to describe Robyn Marie Bors Veraart as a person) in the ways that she connects with the world. Grounded thinking, mindful interactions and spiritually driven are the signposts by which her intercourses are directed as a human being. 

If love is the fuel of life and God’s love has truly sparked the world, then the joy of life’s splendor is enriched with every sunrise arisen and each breath taken in these 50 years. These 50 years as you have walked on sunshine spreading the light of your life to those you’ve touched and as those fortunate beings, whom you will touch in the next 50; in shining your light, love and sunshine while sparking love wherever you go and then renewing rewards of life, love & light in all that you do. 

I know these things to be real because the truth of my life has been so sparked & so deeply touched by you and the sunshine of your love.

Minden és örökké,

APA 😘  

Photo: HHI, SC - USA

rmbv - 13 April 2006 

"WALKING ON SUNSHINE"

Writers: Martin and Jenny Schaub (of West of Eden)