My Story..

When I was 16 years old living in Norway I didn't really find education that helpful but I thought it would be most useful if I chose a language line even thought I'd rather have done the math's line with all the boys. And so to help my french I saved up for a language course in Vichy, France for a week.

In Vichy I was installed in some huge dormitory with 35 other young women. I had enough money to rent a bike for a day but never thought I needed much more until I discovered that everyone else spent the afternoons chatting and ordering drinks in the local cafes. And so I found myself alone in the dormitory with Barbara, who like me didn't join the gang.

It turned out that Barbara was reading the Bible and she asked if I wanted to join her. She seemed a nice young woman a few years older than myself and I thought 'well, I am a Catholic, so why not?' Something unusual started happening to me when we were reading, I suddenly discovered how interesting Jesus' life was in that he used kindness and love rather than violence or force to get his message across. He healed people and invited them to think for themselves what was the right course of action.

Looking back I can see that it happened at the time in my life when my mother had had a mental breakdown and had become unavailable to me regarding guidance or understanding. Nevertheless, it changed my life completely from the point of view that I started using Jesus' message of love for one's enemies and everyone else as a guiding voice in my life. From then on I read in the Bible every day to help me understand and remember it.

I don't think it matters much which religion or non-religion one has, what matters is that we each find a way to access that inner and outer goodness and love that exists in the world. Life is too short and painful not to.