Interrupted Peace

As fascinating as bustling little Ketchikan is, I confess I find it interruptive. I’ve loved sailing along the between the mountains where the only life beyond the boat is wild.

There are people running around taking advantage of all the boat has to offer but there are many more simply sitting in wonder, contemplating the beauty. A couple we met has taken this cruise many times, simply for the Peace of it. They don’t get off the boat. They do eat in the dining room, at a table for eight, so they can get everyone’s stories, but mostly, they sit on deck and enjoy.

So along comes Ketchikan (and it’s a weird thing, but it feels as if you’re the stable one and all this bounty is coming to you rather than your coming to it!) and the green is interrupted by this (for today at least) sunny city. It’s famous for it’s rainfall — with over 12-15 feet falling every year. It’s famous for its seafood; it’s the marine capital of the world. Sadly, I had no crab in Ketchikan, although i had a whole lot of salmon all week long.

And then, it is home to the largest collection of standing Totem Poles in the world with many artists doing both reconstruction and new construction. I loved the visit. But, oh, I loved Mother Nature’s green.

Peace Totem

I find the story-telling cultures and traditions fascinating. Perhaps I like them as much as I do since my culture has wandered so far from that custom. But in Ketchikan we encountered the totems. There’s a Native Enclave where people have gathered to preserve culture and totems alike. There’s a long house where they teach about their dances and songs. And ther are artists who repair old totems and create new.

The poles tell stories of lineage. They honor lives and loss. Two of them in that village tell of the interactions of the white people as they came to Alaska. Seward was reviled for not bothering to understand the potlatch tradition, receiving the tribes gifts and giving nothing back. Lincoln wasn’t much liked because as Alaska became a territory, they had to emancipate their slaves, which detracted from their “wealth!” Ah life is complicated…

But the poles are fairly simple. Your clan and all your relations were depicted on your totem. There’s something fairly wonderful about that.

If I were to have one, I would want my passion for Peace carved into it, to serve as a reminder of what I strive for. I’m not sure how that would be represented, but, it would serve as a reminder of all I hold dear.

A Breath of Fresh Air Sabbath Peace

I’m a little out of sequence on the Alaska trip, there’s Ketchikan to write about: it was our first stop on the cruise. But yesterday was so warm and I, very uncharacteristically, spent much of it running around in and out of the heat at our church’s yard sale, that I was focused a lot on the notion of fresh air. (and the swimming pool, I thought a lot about the swimming pool as well! And you can bet I came home, cleaned up and went to visit my beloved town pool.)

We were taken by surprise on this trip. Everyone had warned us about how cold it would be. We didn’t even take shorts. Only one pair of capris. And there we were, off guard. But the water is frigid and there are glaciers (glaciers!!!) I’ve never experienced such a sweet breath of air.

Sadly, if you don’t get there soon, you may not either. Global warming has raised temperatures there nearly 11˚ in the last few years. That’s a lot. Hence the ridiculously warm temperatures. Alaskans were swimming in 39˚ glacial lakes. brr. But they were so warm.

If you can, find yourself a place this sabbath to enjoy a sweet breath of cool air or a sweet swim and take this hot day very languidly… it’s what we’re supposed to do.

The Peace of Nature

The Peace in Alaska is overwhelming. There are very few “distractibles.” In a land twice the size of Texas there are no more people than in a mid-sized city somewhere else. Only 700,000… and something like 30,000 eagles. More eagles in Juneau than people.

In the Inside Passage there is only endless Earth, Sky and Water. Even on a ship, steaming along at a decent speed, there’s not a lot you hear. And what you see is majestic.

On the trip, I’d made the decision to disconnect. I didn’t have wi-fi, I didn’t have my computer, I didn’t have a camera. I had to buy a little notebook, but I barely wrote in it. I just sat and inhaled the Peace, storing it up, filling my lungs, my eyes, and my soul with the fresh, raw beauty of Nature at her most profoundly elemental.

Now my job is to remember that, to be inspired by that and to translate that to a world that longs and leans toward Peace.

Whale Peace

In the face of majesty we can share the wonder. Can we not use that sense of wonder to make Peace together?

And speaking of making Peace, I know a young woman who is working with Congolese refugees in Rwanda… She needs to make one more visit to finish her dissertation. Her work explores refugees everyday lives and survival strategies. She’s being lauded by leading anthropologists in the field as brilliant and her work as important. And behind her work are the faces of the children who’s lives are horribly unrooted. Can you help? http://www.gofundme.com/3fqqjk

In the meantime, Peace of the running waves and the spouting whales to you…

Peace Travel

Well, it’s the Fourth of July, and Americans will mark this occasion in so many ways. I’ll be working at the church yard sale — again — and celebrating a friend’s birthday with some barbecue. Family members are hither, thither and yon, many of us were around for Lewisburg’s celebration last week. But my brother- and sister-in-law are at a bluegrass festival, my sister will be at a cookout, my cousins hanging with their grandkids.

As I looked at my Alaska trip taken last month, but written about here, I thought, hmm… how do I think about this nation through the lens of this trip. Duh. My sister and I were exploring the country. Oh, it was a lovely and sybaritic exploration to be sure, I took no conestoga wagon across the country, hiked no trails. But I spent a lot of time marveling at the people who did. I also spent a lot of time marveling at the grandeur of this country and the press of people who wanted to see it.

We were daily faced with the pristine majesty of this State. There are plenty of things that are happening that threaten that pristine nature, but there are acres and acres of land left untouched. When we stay in place, it’s easy to become jaundiced about what our country is like, but travel changes that. I traveled with lovely people, all of us agog at the beauty. That made me hopeful and proud, and gives me fuel to come back home and get back to work on that most American activity… making a difference!

But everyone needs to pause once in a while. Let’s do it today. Let’s look at how beautiful our part of the world is and how privileged we are… let’s celebrate that… and then let’s get back to work bringing Peace to our little corners of the world… because we can and because we should. Happy 4th.

Abundant Peace

Well, the cruise was certainly about abundance… maybe even over abundance. It was impossible to take in everything on offer. Food every time you turned around. Classes and activities on the hour and the half hour. constant daylight. and more wildlife and beauty than you can process. I thought a lot about creation… there was so much…

There often is, in our lives. We frequently fail to see it. And when we can’t see the abundance, we get greedy. What happened in Alaska was that you couldn’t allow yourself to just see the food buffets. All light all the time and whales leaping off the bow, midships and stern? You had to stop and take notice. Precious is a little word for so large a landscape but it was profoundly precious. and profoundly Peaceful.

Walking Peace

Who knew that cruise ships in Alaska had the perfect walking conditions. Plenty cool enough for a fleece and long tights, delightfully flat surfaces (well that had to be pretty much a given) and unbelievable scenery. Well, the scenery’s probably a given as well, but thanks to a wonderful break in the weather, Alaska was incredibly generous with us.

This first morning was a bit misty and so the mountains winked in and out of sight. We entered the Inside Passage just about an hour before I went for a walk. It was easy keeping up the pace when you were trying to catch another glimpse of what you’d just seen and ascertain if, in fact, it really was that beautiful. It was. It was such a feast of the senses, that now, no longer there, it’s hard to comprehend!

Where are my pics, you ask? I don’t have the kind of skill to capture that beauty… there are too many wonderful pics out there… but round and round and round… As the Navajo prayer says:

With beauty may I walk

With beauty before me may I walk

With beauty behind me may I walk

With beauty above me may I walk

With beauty all around me may I walk

And so it was…

Sailing Peace

I’m going to spend the month reflecting on the two weeks I was privileged to spend in Alaska. There was so much to take in, and I had decided to go computer free, so I wasn’t writing there, I was just experiencing. For the same reasons, I didn’t take many pictures, although I may find some to share eventually. A couple people are going to make us discs…

This initial taking off was extraordinary. My sister Deb and I were at the front of the ship, high over the water, watching everything that was going on. We sailed in a fairly narrow channel, waving to people on shore and looking up at an extraordinary bridge as we edged out into the open water. It was wonderful.

I wanted to let you know that this month’s mandala by Nancy Cleaver is entitled Gates of Peace. She says, “This piece invites us to enter into the center of a new world beyond conflict. It reminds me of Japanese sword guards that were used ceremonially, not for weaponry. The gate could open in numerous ways, depending on where you are in relation to the image.” I love the piece and I loved the notion of the gate… I’m looking forward to being able to write about this because there’s been so much going on, that I haven’t been able to think about all I saw and experienced. I’d like to do that with you. While it’s true that we went in June and I’m writing in July, the beauty and the endless sunlight will not change much.

I have the feeling that I’ll see Peace through new eyes as a result of this trip.

Peace Sabbath Gratitude

And so a month of Sacred Vocabulary words ends with Gratitude and the thankful realization that there may be 30 more. See you in September? or maybe August, who knows.

But so much for which to be grateful.

And that’s a mouthful and a dayful for a Sabbath. Enjoy it!

Sacred Village

Building a World of Peace, Village by Sacred Village.

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