We must stand in unity. When one person’s voice is silenced, it is up to the rest of us to cry out. Justice is not a flexible tool. It must be applied to all and it must be applied equally. This is a shared planet, and until we can learn to respect and tolerate one another’s differences, we risk the continued loss of our freedom, our dignity, and the chance to create a peaceful world for our children.
~Leonard Peltier, In the Spirit of Crazy Horse
As I walked from the bus stop to the front of the march, I could feel my chest tighten as it does when I get emotionally overwhelmed. The signs I saw and the chants I heard had such big messages for being so concise. "Obama, Escucha, estamos en la lucha!" (Obama, listen, we are in the fight!) was chanted throughout the march.
"Which one is the illegal one?" with three shoes drawn (photo below) struck me as Arizona considers arresting people who "look" illegal.
"My husband supports us. If he's deported, America will." (photo below) made realize how silly our arguments can be for splitting up families just to make our point.
I always learn about people when I attend events like this. Listening to their voices instead of my own arguments for or against seems to have so much more rationale and reasoning than I can come up with. It's important to listen to the people who are affected by these laws. Maybe by listening to them, we might understand how we can do a better job of helping out the country they left as well as helping them in the country they immigrated to.
Showing posts with label unity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label unity. Show all posts
Sunday, May 02, 2010
Sunday, January 18, 2009
My Pilgrimmage to DC
I want it all!
After figuring out how to get used to the cramped space, with every seat on the bus filled, I have settled into the journey with our 3 charter buses...about 150 people...where even the 'bathroom break only' rest stops take a while.
We have passed Nashville. It's about 10:00 pm. Half of the bus is asleep and the other half is watching Batman.
The closer we get to our destination, the more anxious I get. I want to take it ALL in. I don't want to miss anything...but I'm on a bus!
I've gotten a Tweet from an African-American friend in Dallas who is impressed with CNN's coverage. (I want to see what they are saying!)
A White friend in Missouri IM'd me to tell me she cried along with the people interviewed on Dateline as they discussed the hope that Obama has inspired...and how it took Black AND White to get to this point. (I wish I had Tivo'd Dateline.)
Then my friend, Katwy, called. He's from New York and I only know him because we met in Denver at the convention. He's in DC and has attended different events over the last two days, including the concert on the mall tonight...which he said was amazing, shoulder-to-shoulder, and probably 500,000- 1 mil people there. (I want to be there...in the middle of it all!!)
Each friend from different backgrounds, different cities, different experiences. Yet, each one is relishing each moment leading up to Tuesday.
But I also realize that this bus ride is my experience...my pilgrimmage. Just like the other potential 4 million people, I am on a journey. Some will arrive via expensive flights, complete with $25,000 tickets to get into events. Others of us scrounged up $350 and will stay in Philadelphia just so we can be there on that day.
That is the beauty of this trip--Rich, poor, young, old, people off all nationalities, religions, political persuasions, and sexual orientation...We will all be there *together*. We will all be there to soak in the HOPE for our future.
I hope to situate myself in the best position to soak in the moment...but I also realize that moment is whatever is in front of me. Right now that is a bus full of people resting up for the big moment.
After figuring out how to get used to the cramped space, with every seat on the bus filled, I have settled into the journey with our 3 charter buses...about 150 people...where even the 'bathroom break only' rest stops take a while.
We have passed Nashville. It's about 10:00 pm. Half of the bus is asleep and the other half is watching Batman.
The closer we get to our destination, the more anxious I get. I want to take it ALL in. I don't want to miss anything...but I'm on a bus!
I've gotten a Tweet from an African-American friend in Dallas who is impressed with CNN's coverage. (I want to see what they are saying!)
A White friend in Missouri IM'd me to tell me she cried along with the people interviewed on Dateline as they discussed the hope that Obama has inspired...and how it took Black AND White to get to this point. (I wish I had Tivo'd Dateline.)
Then my friend, Katwy, called. He's from New York and I only know him because we met in Denver at the convention. He's in DC and has attended different events over the last two days, including the concert on the mall tonight...which he said was amazing, shoulder-to-shoulder, and probably 500,000- 1 mil people there. (I want to be there...in the middle of it all!!)
Each friend from different backgrounds, different cities, different experiences. Yet, each one is relishing each moment leading up to Tuesday.
But I also realize that this bus ride is my experience...my pilgrimmage. Just like the other potential 4 million people, I am on a journey. Some will arrive via expensive flights, complete with $25,000 tickets to get into events. Others of us scrounged up $350 and will stay in Philadelphia just so we can be there on that day.
That is the beauty of this trip--Rich, poor, young, old, people off all nationalities, religions, political persuasions, and sexual orientation...We will all be there *together*. We will all be there to soak in the HOPE for our future.
I hope to situate myself in the best position to soak in the moment...but I also realize that moment is whatever is in front of me. Right now that is a bus full of people resting up for the big moment.
Thursday, January 01, 2009
Hope for the New Year
Last year I "resolved" to have wishes instead of creating ambiguous resolutions that last for a day. This year, I still refuse to create a resolution I probably won't keep. But I will go one step beyond wishes. As we enter a new year, I have new hope.
Everything around me seems to be leaning toward coming together--listening to each other...learning from each other...accepting each other for who they are...and challenging each other to move beyond.
On January 20, we will have a president who has lived in different countries and whose skin color has caused him to experience life in the United States differently than any president who has gone before him. His presence has brought out hatred and evil from some. His assumed political views have created excitement and frustration from both sides. His religious associations have caused people to question him from the "right" and the "left." ...but his unifying talk and consequential actions are demonstrating a much longer term vision for bringing people together.
I find it interesting that the state of our nation is also causing people to become interested in other cultures and countries besides "America." Several friends (including myself) have expressed a desire to know more about the people and the culture of the areas where our friends and family are engaged in a war and are, thus, reading more and paying a little more attention to international news. There seems to be a desire to understand more about the middle eastern cultures and are finding out what life is like for other people in other countries and of religions other than Christian. It seems we are beginning to notice that our Iraqi, Muslim, Indian, Pakistani, Shia, Sunni neighbors exist here in the United States.
The other day I watched a documentary called Beyond our Differences.
As I listened to people of various religions, cultures, and ethnicities speak, I was inspired yet again with a sense of hope for our new year. In the documentary, Desmond Tutu quoted the Prayer of Saint Francis:
Oh Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
I remember singing a song like this in college...however, I remember that when I sang it, I thought about it as an action, something I could do for others, and not an application to my own life. In my religious upbringing, I was taught that I could take peace to someone else--the destitute people in Africa...the poor people in the inner city...the down and out in disaster areas. In my mind, it was "them" who needed me to teach them more about peace. I knew I was qualified because I didn't fight or intentionally harm people. I didn't think the song applied to me personally. It never occurred to me that there were ways I could change my own life to better embody that peace.
I never thought the true spiritual role and responsibility to carry peace within would be to make myself conscious of words that could be racially offensive, to educate myself about laws that disproportionately hurt people who are poor, to listen to people's stories of injustice, and to work with people to change that injustice.
This year I have hope that many more people will join on the path of seeing, understanding, and appreciating differences...and then going beyond them. I look forward to that in 2009.
Everything around me seems to be leaning toward coming together--listening to each other...learning from each other...accepting each other for who they are...and challenging each other to move beyond.
On January 20, we will have a president who has lived in different countries and whose skin color has caused him to experience life in the United States differently than any president who has gone before him. His presence has brought out hatred and evil from some. His assumed political views have created excitement and frustration from both sides. His religious associations have caused people to question him from the "right" and the "left." ...but his unifying talk and consequential actions are demonstrating a much longer term vision for bringing people together.
I find it interesting that the state of our nation is also causing people to become interested in other cultures and countries besides "America." Several friends (including myself) have expressed a desire to know more about the people and the culture of the areas where our friends and family are engaged in a war and are, thus, reading more and paying a little more attention to international news. There seems to be a desire to understand more about the middle eastern cultures and are finding out what life is like for other people in other countries and of religions other than Christian. It seems we are beginning to notice that our Iraqi, Muslim, Indian, Pakistani, Shia, Sunni neighbors exist here in the United States.
The other day I watched a documentary called Beyond our Differences.
As I listened to people of various religions, cultures, and ethnicities speak, I was inspired yet again with a sense of hope for our new year. In the documentary, Desmond Tutu quoted the Prayer of Saint Francis:
Oh Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
I remember singing a song like this in college...however, I remember that when I sang it, I thought about it as an action, something I could do for others, and not an application to my own life. In my religious upbringing, I was taught that I could take peace to someone else--the destitute people in Africa...the poor people in the inner city...the down and out in disaster areas. In my mind, it was "them" who needed me to teach them more about peace. I knew I was qualified because I didn't fight or intentionally harm people. I didn't think the song applied to me personally. It never occurred to me that there were ways I could change my own life to better embody that peace.
I never thought the true spiritual role and responsibility to carry peace within would be to make myself conscious of words that could be racially offensive, to educate myself about laws that disproportionately hurt people who are poor, to listen to people's stories of injustice, and to work with people to change that injustice.
This year I have hope that many more people will join on the path of seeing, understanding, and appreciating differences...and then going beyond them. I look forward to that in 2009.
Monday, December 29, 2008
The Price of Silence
On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The following 48 countries voted in favour of the Declaration: Afghanistan, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Burma, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Denmark, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Iceland, India, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Liberia, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Thailand, Sweden, Syria, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela. Eight abstained (all Soviet Bloc states [i.e., Byelorussia, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Ukraine, The USSR and Yugoslavia], South Africa, and Saudi Arabia).
Yet, as I read the Declaration, I wonder how much the countries who voted for the declaration actually take to heart the commitment they made 60 years ago. How do we create a renewed commitment to this...and what is the price of our silence?
The following 48 countries voted in favour of the Declaration: Afghanistan, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Burma, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Denmark, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Iceland, India, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Liberia, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Thailand, Sweden, Syria, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela. Eight abstained (all Soviet Bloc states [i.e., Byelorussia, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Ukraine, The USSR and Yugoslavia], South Africa, and Saudi Arabia).
Yet, as I read the Declaration, I wonder how much the countries who voted for the declaration actually take to heart the commitment they made 60 years ago. How do we create a renewed commitment to this...and what is the price of our silence?
Monday, November 10, 2008
What brings us together?
Mark Johnson spent 10 years going all over the world making this film, Playing for Change: Peace through Music.
Unifying across cultures through feel-good music. These videos make me smile.
Stand by Me:
One Love:
Unifying across cultures through feel-good music. These videos make me smile.
Stand by Me:
One Love:
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Moving toward a more unified country
There has been much talk about Barack's speech yesterday. Radio programs, talk shows, comedy shows, political pundits....
As far as blogging goes, I know I'm already way behind in putting his speech out there. Anyone who was interested in his words or this political race in general has already heard it and heard all of the pundits talking about it over... and over... and over. But if you haven't watched it, you really should. Listen to his words and please feel free to comment.
In my mind, there's really not much more you can say. He said it best. He addressed the reality of black...and white. He addressed issues that people want to sweep under the rug and pretend aren't there.
I haven't had time to digest it all. I think there's much more to the speech than I've really had time to think about or process. But I know one thing I did get out of it...
We have to face reality. We ALL need to be a part of fixing the system. We ALL play a role. To make our communities and our society stronger we have to get started.
As far as blogging goes, I know I'm already way behind in putting his speech out there. Anyone who was interested in his words or this political race in general has already heard it and heard all of the pundits talking about it over... and over... and over. But if you haven't watched it, you really should. Listen to his words and please feel free to comment.
In my mind, there's really not much more you can say. He said it best. He addressed the reality of black...and white. He addressed issues that people want to sweep under the rug and pretend aren't there.
I haven't had time to digest it all. I think there's much more to the speech than I've really had time to think about or process. But I know one thing I did get out of it...
We have to face reality. We ALL need to be a part of fixing the system. We ALL play a role. To make our communities and our society stronger we have to get started.
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