Tag Archives: social action

Bravery Beyond

I’m not sure which particular news item was the spark for this, but I found myself reflecting on what causes us to move from audience to action. Starting small, in our own lives, leads us to greater involvement in our neighborhood/region/state/country.

Terri Peterson, who writes occasionally for this site, mused the other day on one of her own blogs about what it means that we know the names of people on sit-coms but not on our local school boards. What’s going to make a bigger difference in our lives, in the long run?

And once we know something, what stirs us to action? Have thoughts? Go over, like Sacred Village on FB. Say what works for you. Let’s get the conversation going and encourage one another.

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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.

One Small, but Important Step for Released Prisoners

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Earlier this month, with the Susquehanna Valley Leadership Program I’m taking we went to visit the Medium Security Unit at Allenwood PA. If you’ve never visited a prison, you should. It’s a visceral experience you won’t forget. Once the door clangs shut behind you, and you look around, you receive a lot of rapid fire visual information about who is tried and sentenced in this country.

As state and federal budgets are squeezed, there’s less and less money for helping classes in the prisons that will help inmates find legitimate jobs on the outside and fewer and fewer resources outside. (And of course, if our returning veterans and their spouses are having a hard time having jobs, people with felony records will not be in the running. Without legitimate jobs, they will return to former lifestyles. There was a recent sad, sad case in our area, a recently released prisoner, elderly with health issues and no work skills, was living in his car. When United Way folk stopped to talk to him about finding him housing, he just wanted to go “home to prison.” He didn’t know how to function in this world.)

Enter Center for Employment Operations (C.E.O.). They’re doing great work, helping former prisoners develop skills that will help them in the outside world. Sadly, it’s one program. But the more we read about these things, talk about them, support them, the better the odds for their continued existence and for copy-cats to spring up. In the coming times, I believe we’re the ones who will have to step up and provide solutions. It’s great to have good models. In addition to C.E.O, I suggest you follow The NY Times’ column Fixes. Every week on Friday, they report on things that are working in our world. That’s a column this Priestess can whole-heartedly endorse!

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!

Lucie and Her Many Bears

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What a lovely story. Lucie, age 10, when delivered an ultimatum by her mom  to  to throw out, sell or donate her no-longer-used toys, decided to give her toys to her brother’s pre-school. The principal, moved by her gift, gave her a certificate at a “build-a-bear workshop,” along with a tag that said “For Good Use.”

For some reason, upon reflection, Lucie decided that meant she should donate her bear to someone who needed it. She chose the Ronald McDonald House near her. But she decided not to give just one bear, but has embarked on a campaign of building many bears for Kids or siblings of Kids with serious illnesses. She’s had fund raisers, accepts donations and puts her allowance and Christmas presents to work.

One kid, and a huge difference in people’s lives — the children who receive the bears, their grateful parents and the children and adults who are moved (perhaps even to action!) by Lucie’s generosity. You know, my friends, it’s not the grand gestures that build a world of Peace. It’s the little ones. This child and her furry friends make that clear. Merci, Lucie! (Read more about her here.)

Milennial Villages

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Whenever Jeffrey Sachs’ name crosses my sonar, I perk up. He does great work and is always looking at interesting issues. This article really speaks to what I envision for Sacred Village. I believe that Peace is built one Sacred Village at a time.

I hope we read articles such as this and think, not just how wonderful this is, but also how are these tools useful to me and my band of change-makers? Don’t live in a developing nation? There’s still plenty of need where you do live.

I feel more and more convinced that The Councils of Elders Experience is the right way to go… What’s interesting about this project is that it looks at agriculture, health, education, infrastructure, and business development at the same time. People have joined together and are moving themselves forward. Who is your bright and shining Council? What different areas of the same problem are you looking at?

What’s also interesting to me is that they have banded together there with experts from other places and are making progress. Let’s hear a loud huzzah! for new technology that makes this easy. The Skype call from small village to college prof’s office: an idea whose time has come and changed worlds.

Find the article here, and tell me what you think.

Ann