JUST GET INSPIRED AND ACT ON YOUR INSPIRATION

MAGIC IS A MATTER OF PERCEPTION

What I started out to do was post George_Frideric_Handel's Messiah's All We Like Sheep Have Gone Astray. All I found was this. And then I found this by a poster in the Philippines, which is a tribute to Sam.

In high school, my choir director selected He Was Despised for me to sing. I'm not sure why. The Messiah to me is best when the whole chorus is singing. And listening to it doesn't hold a candle to actually being in that chorus and singing. But here is a glorious trumpet solo and Teddy Tahu Rhodes singing The Trumpet Shall Sound.

And then . . .
.....................................................

.....................................................
Silent Night on guitar
.....................................................

.....................................................
Silent Night sung by St. Thomas Boys Choir of Germany

The people of Darfur are in my heart today.

GENOCIDE STOPS WITH US
AND IF OUR LEADERS WON'T LEAD ON THIS ISSUE
WE MUST LEAD THEM.

You can give a tax deductible donation of $30 and provide a way for the women and girls not to have to go after firewood to cook with where the systematic rapes take place as a tool of the governmentally-supported genocide: Solar Cooker Project
$30 Solar Cooker Donation Provides:

2 Solar Cookers per family
2 Pots
2 Pot Holders
Year supply of plastic bags
Skills Training for refugee women and girls
» Learn more about the Solar Cooker Project

Call President Bush's Comment Phone Line 202-456-1111
or
Call 1-800-GENOCIDE
Enter your zip code. Choose to be connected to President Bush. You will receive talking points on SADA (Sudan Accountabiltiy and Divestment Act) before you are connected.
Visit www.1800genocide.com after your call to tell how it went.

genocide intervention
save darfur
darfur genocide
amnesty

Make it a holy night

do something
and then have a Merry Christmas

Thank you.

Believe

DEDICATED TO MY SISTER, IMMACULEE, IN RWANDA

THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT, OLYMPIC DREAMS AND DARFUR

It isn't that I want to lay guilt at anyone's heart who already desires to help end the genocide on the Darfuri people of Sudan. I just want us "Not to Forget". It is so easy to forget because our news media has chosen to NOT REPORT THE DARFUR CRISIS. You can however still catch the well-done HBO documentary film, Sand and Sorrow, as it is repeatedly aired.

It is Christmas and I know that Darfuri people don't celebrate Christmas because they are Muslims, however according to the website of Ontario Consultants of Religious Tolerance, there are 2,039 million Christians in the world. I was raised Christian. A fundamentalist, born-again, Bible-knowledgeable Christian from Indiana where my heritage points strongly to the Mennonites. Indiana has strong regions of Mennonites and the not-too-far-different Amish. Anyone, Christian or not, who has a moral code with humanity at its core, would ~ in my way of thinking ~ include genocide as one of those things that we must make a stand against. And I don't mean in the way that President Bush has taken a stand ~ merely rhetorically. I mean in actually forming a strategy to bring humanity to where the inhumane behaviors of genocide are getting nothing more than a statement against it every several months by the Christian, President George W Bush. A strategy to bring genocide to an end. You can't say you are a Christian and then act immorally and amorally as Bush has done for the last 5 years regarding the people of Darfur ~ and have credibility. Here is a man in a position to actually do something. And he has done nothing.

............................................................ ............................................................
Still, Still, Still

Christians all over the world celebrate Christmas, either on December 25 or January 6. And it seems so right to me to think about Darfur and the five year genocide, that is going on there, while we have knowledge of it ~ while we celebrate the joy of the birth of "our" Saviour. If "our" Saviour didn't come to free us from our ignorance and cold-hearted indifference, then it seems to me like a wasted trip to this mortal life if only for our isolated, individual souls. And that is, if you didn't know the teachings of the baby Jesus when he starting imparting his parables and demonstrating his Christian behavior while he walked on this Earth. Because if you have knowledge of those things, you know what we are to be doing for our brothers and sisters of Darfur, who are in such dire need.

I don't concern myself by describing myself as a Christian or by religion, but how I live my life. It is simple for me. What I make of those who say they are Christians and don't act in ways that I could tell, is this ~ if I don't see your life bearing any resemblance to your words, then truth is missing. There is a song "They Will Know We Are Christians By Our Love" that says it all in the title.

As I get hungry and think of the cookies and milk that are mine by simply walking to get them or if I am tired, I know I have the comforts of a bathroom and a cozy bedroom to feel at home in ~ I almost always think how it is for the hungry and homeless living in the cold because a man named Omar al-Bashir wants power over the Darfuri people.

Yes, it is Christmas in my life and even though Christmas is not a religious day for the Darfuri children and adults ~ they are not out of sight, out of my mind. I carry their hearts in my heart. As we all could if we chose to. And I do more than give it lip service, I work toward ending the genocide. We need our elected politicians to get the fortitude, the political will and moral imperative to use their power to bring the spirit of Christmas ~ Peace on Earth ~ in the way of strategies to end this man-made disaster named genocide.

The Power of The Dream
China will open the world's Olympics, August 8, 2008 at 8:00 p.m. with the theme, "One World, One Dream" and yet China supplies the weapons for the Darfur genocide and provides money for the genocide's military equipment and funding. And Russia sells the antonov planes to bomb the Darfuri people in conjunction with the government-backed janjaweed soldiers. China is also funding the new residence of Sudanese architect of the genocide, President Omar al-Bashir. Eric Reeves has written an article Partners in Genocide: A Comprehensive Guide to China's Role in Darfur. Also, Mia Farrow, writes of Darfur and her trips there. She also writes of the fact that the 2008 Olympics will be Genocide Olympics ~ just as the Olympics in Berlin, Germany were dubbed, that took place while the holocaust was going on. I am a great believer in "We the People" and our importance of forming the world we live in, the world we want to live in, the world we want to shape for our children' and grand children's future.

GENOCIDE STOPS WITH US
AND IF OUR LEADERS WON'T LEAD ON THIS ISSUE
WE MUST LEAD THEM.

You can give a tax deductible donation of $30 and provide a way for the women and girls not to have to go after firewood to cook with where the systematic rapes take place as a tool of the governmentally-supported genocide: Solar Cooker Project

$30 SOLAR COOKER Donation Provides:

• 2 Solar Cookers per family
• 2 Pots
• 2 Pot Holders
• Year supply of plastic bags
• Skills Training for refugee women and girls

»	Learn more about the Solar Cooker Project

Call President Bush's Comment Phone Line 202-456-1111
or
Call 1-800-GENOCIDE
Enter your zip code. Choose to be connected to President Bush. You will receive talking points on SADA (Sudan Accountabiltiy and Divestment Act) before you are connected.
Visit www.1800genocide.com after your call to tell how it went.

genocide intervention
save darfur
darfur genocide
amnesty

Make It A Holy Night
do something
and then have a Merry Christmas

Thank you.

Believe

THIS IS MY CHRISTMAS CARD TO PRESIDENT GEORGE W BUSH

So this is Christmas
and what have you done



Every year, self-proclaimed Christians have Christmas and it is marketed as the biggest money-making "event" of the year. Many can't afford to buy presents for their children. Many can't feed their children or afford to send them to school where a better future waits. Many can't afford medicine. GENOCIDE flourishes in Darfur and neighboring Chad because WE don't care enough to use our political will to make a difference. And the words Peace on Earth are prominently displayed everywhere at this time of the year. But Peace on Earth isn't practiced, truly practiced, anywhere.

…………………………………………………

…………………………………………………
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvNRHrKyaX4

The person who posted this video on Youtube goes by the name of
yocapoweb and is from Capital Federal, Argentina.

He writes this with his video:
Christmas is near, it's time to think about it...

I can't find the right words to express what this video and this song means to me. I personally think that everybody must watch this video, specially the ones who rule the world.

Lennon was such a great man, we all miss him so much... Thank you John!

Ahora se acerca la navidad. Los medios nos lo recuerdan contantemente en las publicidades. No nos quedemos con eso solo para esta navidad. Creo que todo el mundo debería ver este video y comenzar a recapacitar.
¡Gracias John!

Lyrics to John Lennon's This Is Christmas

So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

A very Merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Christmas
For weak and for strong
For rich and the poor ones
The world is so wrong
And so happy Christmas
For black and for white
For yellow and red ones
Let's stop all the fight

A very Merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear

And so this is Christmas
And what have we done
Another year over
A new one just begun
And so happy Christmas
We hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

A very Merry Christmas
And a happy New Year
Let's hope it's a good one
Without any fear
War is over, if you want it
War is over now.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I typed in my window "World Hunger" and one of the websites that came up is the following . . .

Hunger and World Poverty

About 25,000 people die every day of hunger or hunger-related causes, according to the United Nations. This is one person every three and a half seconds. Unfortunately, it is children who die most often.

Yet there is plenty of food in the world for everyone. The problem is that hungry people are trapped in severe poverty. They lack the money to buy enough food to nourish themselves. Being constantly malnourished, they become weaker and often sick. This makes them increasingly less able to work, which then makes them even poorer and hungrier. This downward spiral often continues until death for them and their families.

There are effective programs to break this spiral. For adults, there are “food for work” programs where the adults are paid with food to build schools, dig wells, make roads, and so on. This both nourishes them and builds infrastructure to end the poverty. For children, there are “food for education” programs where the children are provided with food when they attend school. Their education will help them to escape from hunger and global poverty.

Source: http://www.poverty.com/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I typed in my window "Darfur Genocide and one of the many websites came up with this . . .

The ongoing Darfur Genocide is no accident, no local tribal conflict. The genocide is the brutal plan of three men in the Sudanese national Government -- President Bashir, Vice-President Taha, Security Chief Gosh. Now they are spreading their system of terror to other African countries, including Chad and the Central African Republic . Yet our governments continue to cut deals with them - deals they repeatedly break. It is time for the US and European governments to stop appeasing genocide. We call on our governments to fully support the International Criminal Court to indict the perpetrators of genocide, and to help ensure their arrest. It is time for justice, because only justice can bring peace.

For Bashir, Taha and Gosh, it is time for handcuffs, not handshakes.

Source:http://www.darfurgenocide.org/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I typed in my window "Aids numbers" and up came the following . . .

Global HIV/AIDS estimates, end of 2007

The latest statistics on the world epidemic of AIDS & HIV were published by UNAIDS/WHO in November 2007, and refer to the end of 2007.

	Estimate	Range
People living with HIV/AIDS in 2007	33.2 million	30.6-36.1 million
Adults living with HIV/AIDS in 2007	30.8 million	28.2-33.6 million
Women living with HIV/AIDS in 2007	15.4 million	13.9-16.6 million
Children living with HIV/AIDS in 2007	2.5 million	2.2-2.6 million
People newly infected with HIV in 2007	2.5 million	1.8-4.1 million
Adults newly infected with HIV in 2007	2.1 million	1.4-3.6 million
Children newly infected with HIV in 2007	0.42 million	0.35-0.54 million
AIDS deaths in 2007	2.1 million	1.9-2.4 million
Adult AIDS deaths in 2007	1.7 million	1.6-2.1 million
Child AIDS deaths in 2007	0.33 million	0.31-0.38 million

More than 25 million people have died of AIDS since 1981.

Africa has 12 million AIDS orphans.

Young people (under 25 years old) account for half of all new HIV infections worldwide.

In developing and transitional countries, 7.1 million people are in immediate need of life-saving AIDS drugs; of these, only 2.015 million (28%) are receiving the drugs.

Source: http://www.avert.org/worldstats.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I typed in my window PEACE ON EARTH and . . .

I found a blogger post ~ how appropriate ~ a blogger ~ someone like you and me . And here is what she wrote . . .

....and let all begin with me...

In the dawn of Christmas day,
I am sitting down in the dark, with 3 big candles..
Candles of love, peace, and hope... glowing in the dark...
Let there be Peace on Earth and let it begin with me.

Let there be Peace on Earth, the peace that was meant to be!
With kindness as a value , Humans all are we.
Let me walk with my brothers and sisters in perfect harmony. (Okay, I changed the words ~ do you think God is offended?)

Let peace begin with me. Let this be the moment now.
With every breath I take, let this be my solemn vow;
To take each moment and live each moment in peace eternally!
Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me!

Let there be Peace on Earth.

Let there be Hope on Earth,

Let there be Love on Earth,

and let all begin with me.

(You want to jump on board?)

Source:
http://merlyna.blogspot.com/2004/12/and-let-all-begin-with-me.html

and I found . . .
While we’re well versed in the profits of war, can we even fathom the profits of peace? Of not being on “Alert” status, of varying degree and hue? Source:
http://phaelosopher.wordpress.com/2007/01/24/thoughts-on-peace-why-bother-part-i/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I typed in "World Peace" and one thing I learned is that we have

The 1981 United Nations resolution reads: "Declares that the International Day of Peace shall henceforth be observed as a day of global ceasefire and non-violence, an invitation to all nations and people to honour a cessation of hostilities for the duration of the Day...

“Invites all Member States, organizations of the United Nations system, and non-governmental organizations and individuals to commemorate, in an appropriate manner, the International Day of Peace, including through education and public awareness, and to cooperate with the United Nations in the establishment of the global ceasefire.”

A powerful activity on the International Day of Peace ~ September 21 ~ is the Minute of Silence at 12 o’clock in every time zone as it circles the globe.

For complete information about the International Day of Peace, please visit:
http://www.internationaldayofpeace.org

One single day of peace, wow. . . (do you think even that happens?)

. . . How about a Year of Peace?

Call me a dreamer, right?


~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So disturbing, I won't say anything other than, if you have the courage, go to this link on Abu Ghraib ~ happening in your name USA citizens (and I am one) How thoroughly shameful, President Bush ~ ON YOUR WATCH! Check out the videos while you are there. The link is on the left side and it is number 10.
http://www.salon.com/news/abu_ghraib/2006/03/14/chapter_1/index.html

Once you see this, consider what Christmas means to the USA. And our self-proclaimed Christian ~ President Bush.

IOAN ONLINE IS NOW ASLEEP, WAITING FOR PRINCE CHARMING

Ioan Gruffudd and Alice Evans

THIS IS BITTERSWEET. THE END OF A GOOD THING

I stayed up all night "holding the hands" of members of the most fabulous actor's website in cyberspace. We were there for the website's last minutes. The link went out one hour and 25 minutes, approximately after it was supposed to go out. We part with sorrow, but with our senses of humor well in tact. We had some laughs and had some melancholy. We "sang" some songs and kept it alive on life support to the very end. We didn't want it to go out without the humanity that it encouraged and maintained for the nine years that it "lived". So, we were there with one another.

The website was the brain child of a woman of integrity, just a fan of Ioan Gruffudd, really. Her name is April and she deserves our gratitude and admiration. But so, too, do the wonderful members deserve a gold medal, who as far as I could tell in the two short weeks that I posted and read their posts - are the cream of the human race. This only reflects well on Ioan, my William Wilberforce of Amazing Grace, as it is him that drew us there. The website was born April 6, 1998 and it died May 1, 2007,by my eastern standard USA time at 4:25 a.m.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kwvqSP5dbU

You’re My Heaven sung by Wynonna Judd

My heart goes out to Ioan who found fault with the site which in reality supported him to the last breath of its existence. The site was as much for him, as it was for his highly regarded and intelligent enthusiasts - his fans.

It is difficult to think about Ioan in the same way as I did, before I learned of the situation. I have tried my very best to support all sides. But honestly, I am thoroughly confused that a website that essentially is his best "publicist" couldn't have been salvaged by talking about the misunderstandings, find clarity and negotiate, so that Alice Evans, his fiance, would feel comfortable with www.ioanonline.com.

I saw nothing on the site by way of the members attitudes and expressions that was disrespectful essentially. Perhaps something, somewhere could have been construed as hurtful or distasteful to Alice. But sometime in our lives, it would be beneficial to learn how to talk out the things that we allow to divide us and that we allow break our chances of getting along, instead of mending and healing. We all live in this universe. And until the universe is no more, there will be spats, misunderstandings and different perspectives.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na5qkH9e_rs

People Get Ready I don’t know who is singing this wonderful version. The pictures have nothing to do with my post. But the song is so peaceful, I thought it fitting.

The song that I wanted, Peace in this House, from Wynonna Judd’s CD “Her Story: Scenes From a Lifetime” wasn’t found on Youtube, yet. But, I did find the lyrics to her song:
Peace in this House

Hey kids turn off the tv, no i don't want to watch the evening news so come on over here and sit down next to me, and let your momma look at you, and you and you.your beautiful faces that i wanna keep safe as long as i can, i'm telling you right now, there's gonna be peace in this house, there's gonna be peace in this house. there's gonna be some tender talkin and sweet little nothings that add up to the somethings we can do without,there's gonna be peace in this house some belief in this house. every good thing that ever happens, happens from the inside out
i'm telling you now, there's gonna be peace in this house
did i tell you today that i love you, you're the reasons for everything i do and sometimes i think the only hope for this world is the love in you, and you and you.
let's try to be patient
let's all play nice
cause everyone's gonna get a slice of this pie
there's gonna be peace in this house
there's gonna be peace in this house
gonna be some tender talkins
sweet little nothings that add up to the somethings we can do without
there's gonna be peace in this house
some belief in this house
every good thing that ever happens
happens from the inside out
i'm telling you now, there's gonna be peace in this house

A sense of justice, fairness, clear-eyed welcome and a good dose of humor would just be a good thing to actually give a try. How in the universe do we ever expect Peace on Earth if we can't discuss our differences?

I wrote many lo-ong posts at April’s out-of-this-world’s website for Ioan Gruffudd, www.ioanonline.net, but this is one that I wrote near the day’s end of the last day of the website:

! I'm Here UNTIL the Lights Go Out... Your Grace Has Been Amazing

---

I just signed in for the first time today.

There's that familiar: Thank you for logging in ilovemylife
when entering www.ioanonline.com in cyberspace that is so nostalgic.

I tried to open another window just now so that I could see it again, but for some reason that little comforting message didn't appear in the new window.

Oh, well. But I did see: Welcome ilovemylife
so that was good enough for me.

Well, here we are......

I am staying on this site until my computer screen does whatever it does when this Gift from the Goddess of Admiral April disappears from my sight.

I believe that means I'll be sitting here until 3:00 in the morning. But that's what I'm doing. Wouldn't have it any other way.

'sides I have spent some nights here over the last 7 days all night long.

I'll be over at the Gallery most of the night, popping over here and about until the fateful minute.

I have committed to myself not to write any more words to Ioan or his Alice tonight. That is done. Here I spend time with you, people I didn't know in any sense two weeks ago. And yet we share empathy, melancholy and are mourning a loss tonight.

Yes, we will survive.

You might be familiar with that old Helen Reddy song: I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar..." Great words for our time of sharing this evening or whatever time of day it is for you wherever you plant yourself on this earth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPDcMyPlFvw
<:<:<:<:<:<:<:<:<:<:<:<:<

We are the Garden. We are the Garderners. We are the Flowers. There are no weeds in our Ioanonline Garden.

I know we have all been saying Thank You to April and all of her dedicated crew. It seems so little to say . . . Thank You. And yet that's all we have. And we in our own ways love you April and the crew....

But what a beautiful thing to have come together and rally behind our leader and see all the emotions being laid out here for the world to see really.

I am a big fan of YouTube, as some of you may have caught onto with all my music links here in my posts, but some of the posters there are bigots, full of hatred, mindless and seemingly not human.

But it is obvious this www.ioanonline.net community with its admirabe, gifted, principled and able leader, APRIL, we here have set the standard in cyberspace as to how to"act" and how to be human.

I am proud to be a small part of this community. It is a blessing to my already blessed life. I genuinely do feel as my online name says: I Love My Life. I walk around my house and it just bursts out of my mouth all of the time. When someone asks me "How are you?" I sincerely mean it when I say with gusto and enthusiasm "I am great, just great!" And here you have just added to my wonderful life with the sharing and caring and humanity that has shown up at the “party”.

Thank you. Each one. I am proud to share the universe with you. And I am especially proud to be a woman. We really do rock. We really do possess the power to change this world and Make It A Better World as William Wilberforce wanted his life to be about. It is so fitting in a way that Ioan so beautifully fleshed out Wilber's life for us to see.

We will carry on. We will see why one day this all happened. We are really an example to the world how to behave in times of stress and our little online/human behavior crisis.

Last Saturday I led a group of common every day human beings in the historic little seaport town of Newport, Rhode Island carrying the Darfur Genocide posters from one historic sight to another historic sight for my speech. The movie Amistad about the slave trade was filmed on the very sight that I stood to give my Darfur speech on Saturday. George Washington sent a letter to the Touro Synagague, one block from this location of Washington Square. We can make a difference in this world. One person can make a difference.

So, I thank you each one for the graciousness that has shown up and continues tonight, today, whatever it is where you lay your head... we are a wonderful example of what it means to be human.

<:<:<:<:<:<:<:<:<:<:<:<:<

What I Did for Love and what I found on Youtube was this by Shirley Bassey with that song on it but it starts with When You’re Smiling, which isn’t a bad song for us all.

Here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2DL8NmnN2k

Save it and look at it after www.ioanonline.com goes out to cyberspace never, never land….can we hope just be dormant(?) ... and then after a much deserved and needed long rest, find phoenix is a truism.

<:<:<:<:<:<:<:<:<:<:<:<

What I Did For Love
Kiss today goodbye,
The sweetness and the sorrow.
Wish me luck, the same to you.
But I can't regret
What I did for love, what I did for love.
Look my eyes are dry.
The gift was ours to borrow.
It's as if we always knew,
And I won't forget what I did for love,
What I did for love.
Gone,
Love is never gone.
As we travel on,
Love's what we'll remember.
Kiss today goodbye,
And point me t'ward tomorrow.
We did what we had to do.
Won't forget, can't regret
What I did for
Love
What I did for...
Love
Love is never gone
As we travel one
Love's what we'll remember
Kiss today goodbye.

And point me t'ward tomorrow.

Point me t'ward tomorrow
We did what we had to do.
Won't forget, can't regret
What I did for love.
What I did for love.

What I did for love

<:<:<:<:<:<:<:<:<:<

I AM WOMAN
Words and Music by Helen Reddy and Ray Burton I am woman, hear me roar In numbers too big to ignore And I know too much to go back an' pretend 'cause I've heard it all before And I've been down there on the floor No one's ever gonna keep me down again Oh yes I am wise But it's wisdom born of pain Yes, I've paid the price But look how much I gained If I have to, I can do anything I am strong I am invincible I am woman You can bend but never break me 'cause it only serves to make me More determined to achieve my final goal And I come back even stronger Not a novice any longer 'cause you've deepened the conviction in my soul I am woman watch me grow See me standing toe to toe As I spread my lovin' arms across the land But I'm still an embryo With a long long way to go Until I make my brother understand Oh yes I am wise But it's wisdom born of pain Yes, I've paid the price But look how much I gained If I have to I can face anything I am strong I am invincible I am woman Oh, I am woman I am invincible I am strong I am woman
<:<:<:<:<:<:<:<:<:<:<

I love you.
Thanks for it all.

Sandra, ilovemylife


P.S. I really appreciated what StevieT said above.

And Kazq - I loved singing Auld Lang Syne with you.

And Fishforit, I'll check out your link later - as I was having trouble getting it but I'm hoping that even after the theatre here goes dark - I can still access your link.

You all rock!

Light tomorrow with today. Elizabeth Barrett Browning

__________________

LET'S MAKE GENOCIDE HISTORY:

www.savedarfur.org

www.fidelityoutofsudan.com

www.genocideintervention.net

WE CAN MAKE THE DIFFERENCE

HOW DO WE EXPECT PEACE TO BE THE OUTCOME FROM WAR? AND WHERE THE GIRLS ARE IN TODAY'S WORLD

Be the Change You Want to See

We have just never given PEACE A CHANCE. We say we want peace. But we historically and currently try to get there by force. Personally anytime anyone has tried to force me to do anything when it wasn't something I had my heart or convictions behind - to be able to live with myself - I had to do the most difficult thing and not do what the parent, boss or group was pressuring or intimidating me to do. It is not something that we females are trained to do by many of our families, our work environments and society. Even, now. Even, here in the United States of America. To stand up for ourselves. To take the lead. To be courageous and speak out. To be strong in the face of someone else who, acceptably, is strong. We are expected to acquiesce. It is written in the Bible that we are inferior, basically. That we are to submit. I gag when I hear someone spout this stuff as anything other than rhetoric or a topic of discussion. It is no creed that I believe in. I loathe when I go to a wedding and this part of Paul's words in the Bible relegate a bride to the status of being subservient. I said to my mother after my niece of 21 years young just had her wedding with these words as a part of the ceremony homily, her other daughter (the niece's mother) and she don't live that way in their marriages - so why do they accept and put up with such nonsense in these ceremonies that are supposed to mean so much. There was no good answer. There was a flimflam, pretentious answer given, but I just shook my head.

I never had a daughter. I mentored a female teen when I was teaching. I met Sherry while I was teaching music in middle school while the regular teacher was in Italy singing opera for half of the school year. When I was about to leave the middle school and return to my elementary music teaching position, I asked Sherry if she wanted to get together every week and just be together. The most meaningful thing that I think I did for her was to drive her to some foster parents that she had had in the past who had meant a lot to her and reunite them. And also, take her and her younger sister to the park. I just found a lot of pictures that I had taken of her tonight. Sherry's mother was missing along with some other drug addicts and prostitutes in Massachusetts. The others had been found murdered along the highway, but Sherry's mom had never shown up. Sherry feared that her mother had abandoned her and her younger sister. Because her mother had once before, then she came up missing again. Sherry was apprehensive about getting her hopes up. No one really knew where her mother was. I mentored her for about 3 years while she went on to high school. Sherry lived with an aunt without her sister. A few years after that, I hadn't seen Sherry for awhile and I read in the newspaper that her mother's body had been found in Fall River, Massachusetts - buried in the yard of someone's house. I read Sherry's words in the newspaper, where she stated that she wanted to be a good mother to her little boy.

The reason I thought of her was that I gave her mostly my heart and my time, but once I gave her this advice: "Count on your own inner strength and integrity. Don't give away your power to others. Believe in yourself. Put your faith in your own perspective." I believe that is still good advice. I was amazed while I taught school to the thousands of students that I had, that the little girls, most of them, weren't being taught that they were just as good as the boys. And that they had the power to empower themselves.

Personally, I was given this message by society, but also my mother: That all I was ever going to be was someone's wife and some children's mother. No identity of my own. The thing is I never wanted that for myself. When I was in 6th grade (11 years old) I decided that I never wanted to bring children into the world that had so many problems. It just didn't seem fair to the children. And I certainly didn't want just to be a wife. I mean even when I was young, it seemed wrong that women were expected to give up something so personal and so identifiably them when they married some man - their name. Women were expected to forego what they had been named since the day they were born to take some other human being's last name. And all those meals that my mother spent so much time preparing and then the family ate in about 15 to 20 minutes - it just seemed, well, unappreciated. When I was selecting a college, my mother actually said to me that it didn't matter if I went to the college that I wanted because all I was ever going to be was a wife and a mother anyway. It rankles me to this day to think of that sentiment.

It is good to have Nancy Pelosi in the 2nd position of succession to be President, if the President dies. It is good to have Hillary Rodham Clinton running, although I prefer Barack Obama. It is important that women are given the status of "important human being" and not some second or third class citizen.

Around the world, women have been Prime Ministers and other women have had lower consideration than cattle. In China the boys have no girls to marry, because the female babies are/were not as desired as the male babies. So they have been shipped off to be adopted by foreigners or aborted. Personally, I stand on the side of abortion rights. To me that is for another post someday, potentially. However, girls, women around the world historically have been given a short-changed life and less respect by virtue of the fact that they don't have a penis. That may sound crude. But in reality it is just the truth.

To have Peace on this Planet it will take a mindset that we have never had before. And for starters we must include girls, women and all children with the same rights as any man.
As any white, caucasian man. If you are born a white man in this world - you are born in a position of socially automatic privileges.

So PEACE . . . how do we ever have it be a reality? Guns aren't the answer, people. Nuclear bombs aren't the answer. (And my dad's brother was at Los Alamos right out of Purdue University as a physicist helping create the bomb.) No war ever ended in peace. It just ended the war. We are going to have to learn to talk. And we are going to have to figure out what to do with those that we can't trust their words. Look I'm from the United States of America and I feel it very true that I can't trust my President Bush. We aren't all that high and mighty. Sometimes we stand pretty low to the ground. It wouldn't be a bad thing to admit when we've done the world wrong. Iraq. Need I really say more? I know there are those who still feel that the USA should have bombed Iraq. But I just don't get it.

"As soon as guilt and rage enter the room everyone wants to exit. Which means we never get the real issue-power: how to share it, how to relinquish it and learn to live with the awkwardness that comes with change . . . . as a country we’re still quite primitive when it comes to negotiating difference, we don’t seem to have the skills essential to survive the early steps of any conversation about race." (George C Wolf)

Even though, this quote ends with "about race" I think you could also substitute a lot of words after "about". And I don't think we need to limit this wisdom to the perspective of "country" only. It fits in our relationships and family environments just as well.

If we spent as much money on peace as we do on war. . . if we spent as much time studying others' histories, other cultures and other people's religions, as we as a nation, spend on studying how to make war - we might find a way - leading to something close - to something we could call "Peace on Earth". And really mean it. Not just something we pretend at Christmas or whenever.

Song by Melanie Safka