Tag Archives: peace

Saying No to the Naysayers!

I don’t know whether or not you’ve watched the hateful anti-gay rhetoric that has recently come out of the mouths of at least 2 ministers from North Carolina. But it’s been shocking and violent. Neither the Rev. Charles Worley and the Rev. Sean Harris have been content to dismiss homosexuality as wrong, but have each found brutal solutions to “ending the scourge of homosexuality.” They are so misguided.

But responding to that hate with hate is not helpful, neither to the cause nor to our calm. So, I think you’ll all agree that this blogger’s response is fabulous. The Rev. Mark Sandlin suggests that we make donations to gay friendly causes in his name and to include his address so that they can mail him letters of thanksgiving for his generosity. It’s a fairly ingenious response. You can read his column here. You can pray for the ministers and their followers any time. May their hearts be turned from hatred and violence.

One Million Bones, ThinkPeace Workshops and my Poetry, Oh, MY!

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Kelly messaged me on Friday afternoon. I was taking a nap. I’d just brought my sister home from the hospital where she’d had her second knee replacement. She was on the exercise machine. It seemed a good time on a dreary Friday afternoon to indulge myself. Nothing sweeter.

But Kelly was frustrated. She and her girls from ThinkPeace Workshops were organizing an art installation in Albany to honor the countless dead from violence and wars. She had wanted the girls to read poetry, but couldn’t find anything that wasn’t violent or saccharine. Did I have any suggestions…

Although I’m writing more and more poetry, I’m actually not very well versed in the canon, so I started thinking… and then I started writing. girls, peace, girls, peace, girls, peace… I soon had 6 connected poems, peace and girls are actually things I think a lot about, even more since Kelly and Liz have entered my life via Facebook. So I sent off what I’d written.

Saturday came and went. and then Sunday I heard from Kelly that they’d read the poems and they’d worked. Then I heard from a woman in Sacramento. She and her daughter read the poems and they worked. I was/am ecstatic. Then Kelly posted on her Thinkpeaceworkshop blog:  Go read the fabulous story about their participation in the One Million Bones project. And she posted my poetry. I’m so grateful to have been able to support this project, these women, these girls. And Peace. Anything we can do for Peace.

Check this out. It’s called Bearing Witness.

Thinkpeace Workshops

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Ok, it’s true. I’ve fallen in love. Kelly Himsl Arthur and Liz Overhuel Curry put their heads and hearts together and came up with a dream they could live into. Thinkpeace Workshops for girls is an extraordinary imagining. They have a one week camp for 14 girls (6th-11th grades), teach them about peace and introduce them to the Global Girls Community. The girls swim and do art and all the other cool camp things. And then they explore Peace. It’s crazy wonderful. They have a fabulous project they’re running to gather 5,000 pairs of underwear for women in Haiti and Zimbabwe. (undergird the movement, Ladies!) You want to know about this (if only because it makes you feel good.) You want to promote it to every little girl child you know. And you want to start banging your spoon on the table along with me and whining, “why don’t you have one for old girls?” (It’s true, we’re holding out for aerobeds and airconditioners, but hey! we’re old!). Here they are folks, giving peace a chance. Jes’ sayin’! go read every single page on their site. Kelly and Liz, hallelu! And thank you so much!

A Simple Message of Peace and Love

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There has been a lot of noise about Iran and Israel, the threat of nuclear weapons, the threat of nuclear war. Most of us have read the news and shaken our heads, unsure how to make a difference. There is so much international posturing going on. What can we do?

Well, Ronny, a graphic designer and a father in Israel, decided to try something. He made a poster and put it on his FB page. It was a picture of him with his daughter and said: ‘To the Iranian people — to all fathers, mothers, children, sisters and brothers — we will never bomb your country. We love you.’

People started posting. Within 24 hours posters showed up on FB that said: ‘We love you back.’

I’ve been following for days. You should be following and posting. Or post Marlo Thomas’ article about it on Huffington Post. We don’t know what will happen on the international stage. It remains frightening. But we do know that citizens of these countries are opening their arms and taking one another to their hearts. In the 70s there was that old poster that said “What if they threw a war and nobody comes?” Well, the time has come. People are trying to host a war, and everyday Iranians and Israelis are not going. The time is now. We can make a difference. Bravo, loving Iranians and Israelis. Bravo you peace makers! Thank you so much, Ronny!

’tis the season

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Dear Shoppers of America,

Black Friday has come and gone, and with it we have witnessed more than our fair share of the worst of humanity.  The most attention-grabbing headline was the one about the woman who shot pepper spray into a crowd to defend her deeply discounted X-Box.  But of course, there was a shooting in a parking lot as a family resisted a gunman trying to steal purchases, a tazing, and another trampling, though this one didn’t result in death.  I could go on, but I’m sure you get the picture.  ‘Tis the season, I suppose.

People, we’re better than this.  This is supposed to be the season for expressing peace on Earth and good will to all men and all that stuff.  Peace on Earth?  Is not achieved by shooting people in a parking lot and strafing a crowd with scorching pepper extracts in the name of X-Box ownership.  I could blame the stores—they don’t HAVE TO pound us relentlessly with ads promising everything at an unbelievable price, though that is their job.  I could blame the advertising agencies who send out a beat beat beat to buy buy buy and have gotten pretty darn skillful in equating shopping with happiness.  I could blame the news, who spend all of Black Friday following projected sales estimates and alternatively telling us we’re reviving the economy and fulfilling our patriotic duty by hitting the malls.  I could, but I won’t.  That lets us off the hook and people, it’s time for a moment of reckoning.

Of course we want to make our loved ones happy and of course we want to get them what they want, but are you sure this is the path to happy?  Loved ones want time + an expression of interest.  Do we think, “I’d love to have a conversation with the brother I don’t really talk to” or, “I have a brother I don’t talk to; I wish he’d give me a gift certificate to Macy’s so I know he loves me.”  As adults, do we look back on our lives and think, “Man, if Mom and Dad had gotten me that Barbie doll in the fourth grade, I’d be so much better off right now…they should have shot someone in a parking lot to get it.”

Question:  Has anyone died from not receiving something on Christmas?  Of course not, and I’m ridiculous, right?  Then when did the stakes become so high in the shopping?

In light of all this, I’m going to ask you all to remember these simple holiday tips:

  • Going to jail to defend your holiday shopping (or, to get your hands on someone else’s holiday shopping) doesn’t make you a better parent.
  • Stores and manufacturers don’t love you.  They just want your money.
  • Whatever the item, your loved one will survive if they don’t own it on December 25th.
  • Celebrate the season by projecting good intentions, not pepper spray.
  • Manners count.  All the time.
  • The best memories are made with you, not with the latest piece of technology that will be obsolete before you get it out of the store.

We’re all in this together, people, so let’s alter the direction this holiday season has started going down, and make it one filled with joy and peace.  Let’s make this the year to start a new tradition, one of happy, healthy memories that have nothing to do with unfettered wants and neglected emotional needs.  Bake the cookies, take the walks, plan the winter picnics and please, please, let the people you love know how much you love them in word and interested action.  Participate in the spirit of the season because I guarantee you, that message isn’t printed on the outside of an X-Box.

Peaceful holidays!

Terri