Category Archives: world

pilgrimclassic: Mother’s Day Proclamation for Peace

Originally posted May 13, 2007:

The celebration of Mother’s Day originated with poet Julia Ward Howe, as a movement for women to fight the devastation of war and to show the way towards peace. Today’s sentimental-flowers-&-Hallmark-card bedecked event hardly measures up to the fiery rhetoric of the day’s founding mother…

Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day Proclamation – 1870

Arise then…women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
“We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.”

From the bosom of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: “Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.”
Blood does not wipe out dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace…
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God –
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

sharing the love

Do you remember a few months ago when I gushed about all of the great people I met in Boston? Here’s another reason to love those great folks of MA.

Sara, on sharing the love:

So I’ll bet you didn’t realize this, but the whole argument about socialized medicine? It boils down to love. Do you love America? Great. Now do you love what America is made of, Americans? Do you really? Well, how much?

Do we love this country and each other enough to figure out a way for every single person in America to have what has just been given to me [note: she just received life-saving brain surgery]? Or are we too busy judging and measuring and lying to each other about what things really cost to make this kind of possibility a reality for every single person?

Every single person deserves this level of help and service. Every single one. I only got it because of luck, finding the bad thing at the right time in the right place with an amazing surgeon and his team just happening to be available to me right at this moment, strictly the luck of the draw.

Oh, and because I live in Massachusetts.

In Massachusetts, we are often rude and cold in demeanor, careless of the environment, and even atrocious drivers. You know what else we do, though? Bottom line, we love one another enough individually and conceptually to put our money where our politics, philosophies, and religions are and really take care of each other, or at least to try. Yes, if you live somewhere else in the country, it is very likely that we pay higher taxes than you. Nobody likes paying taxes. But nobody here likes people to die of treatable and preventable medical conditions.

getting political

I didn’t vote for her, but this thrilled me anyways…

“I want to thank all my friends and family, particularly my mother, who was born before women could vote, and is watching her daughter on this stage tonight.”

— Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Super Tuesday night
H/T to Salon’s Broadsheet

You know what else thrilled me yesterday? Knowing that my friend Caroline was standing out in the cold (the requisite 100 ft from the polls) gathering signatures for a petition that means a lot to her. I love it when women get political! 🙂

votin’

I’ll be teaching this morning then running an errand and heading for the polls. Having been a pollworker for several years I know that the slowest time tends to be around 10-11 in the morning. Lunch is awful and the crowds keep rolling in all afternoon and swell again in the evening.

Yes, I know I could use an absentee ballot. But do you know that I would truly miss the THRILL of standing there in the cardboard booth myself? My foremothers, like Quaker Alice Paul, fought so hard to give me this right. And I appreciate it so very much.

UPDATE: a pic of me, post-vote…
exercising my rights...

amazing

Yesterday CatGirl played a beautiful rendition of “Amazing Grace” on her flute for our Friends’ Meeting annual Christmas party. It was, perhaps, an unorthodox choice of song for the holiday, but it’s so hauntingly beautiful on the flute that I encouraged her to play it anyways. And there was a great spirit in the room as she played, the melody filling the space and touching each person.

Later in the day I noticed that she and I were both humming the tune–it was spinning in our heads and wouldn’t leave! Even though Christianity no longer resonates as strongly with me as in past years, the sentiment of the song continues to stir my heart. As I was thinking about it this morning I found this trailer on youtube for the “Amazing Grace” movie based on Adam Hochschild’s book Bury the Chains. The trailer is a worthwhile watch for all of you who enjoy this tune and who are inspired by those who fight for human rights and equality.

get your goat

My Friend Angela has been in Africa for the past few weeks working in an IHF orphanage. She’s blogging her experiences and they are so heartwarming. I encourage each of you to spend a few moments at her website.

Angela recently sent out a plea for sponsors for orphans and goats. If you haven’t yet completed your gift-giving, or you want to do a little more for those that have less, please consider an IHF donation:

I hope that this holiday season greets you with love, warmth and happiness. At the International Humanity Foundation (IHF) our volunteers are working hard to help make this a special time for the marginalized poor nomadic families in Pokot, Kenya. As part of our Survival program, we are seeking generous individuals willing to buy goats for these families. These goats are a main source of nutrition (and survival) for so many. Every week we dispatch our volunteers to the auction market to buy the goats and distribute them to the families in their homes (where we ensure that they are in fact the poorest of the poor). If you purchase one of our goats* (for US$ 20) we will take a photo of the family receiving the goat, and send you a certificate. You can also choose to sponsor one of our many children in the IHF Nakuru Orphanage (for US$ 37/month) and we will facilitate communication between you and your child through emails and photos. Sponsoring with IHF really does make a special gift; one that keeps on giving to those that are most in need. If you have any questions about our Survival Program, sponsoring one of our orphans, or the International Humanity Foundation please contact IHF@ihfonline.org or visit our website ihfonline.org.

Wishing you the best this holiday season!

Warm Regards,
Carol Sasaki and the IHF family

Note: if you scroll about halfway down the main IHF page you will see the information for goat donation. I like that the goat is far less than for some charities and the photo sounds like a neat thank-you!

for peace…

These are the thoughts and questions that we are focused on this month in our Quaker Meeting. Perhaps you might find them fruitful for reflection, too.

November Advice and Queries (from Faith and Reason):
PEACE

Friends oppose all war as inconsistent with God’s will. As every person is a child of God, we recognize God’s Light also in our adversaries. Violence and injustice deny this reality and violate the teachings of Jesus and other prophets.
Friends challenge their governments and take personal risks in the cause of peace. We urge one another to refuse to participate in war as soldiers, or as arms manufacturers. We seek ways to support those who refrain from paying taxes that support war. We work to end violence within our own borders, our homes, our streets, and our communities. We support international order, justice and understanding.
Become an instrument of peace. At every opportunity, be peacemakers in your homes, workplaces and communities. Steep yourself in the power of the universal Spirit. Examine your actions for the seeds of violence, degradation and destructiveness. Overcome the emotions that lie at the root of violence and nurture instead a spirit of reconciliation and love. Come to know the oneness of all creation and oppose the destruction of the natural world.

Advice and Queries for all individuals:
Do I live in the virtue of that life and power that takes away the occasion of all wars?
How do I nourish peace within myself as I work for peace in the world?
Do I confront violence wherever it occurs, even when my personal relationships are involved?
Where there is distrust, injustice or hatred, how am I an instrument of reconciliation and love?

Advice and Queries for the meeting:
What are we doing to remove the causes of war and destruction of the planet, and to bring about lasting peace?
Do we reach out to all parties in a conflict with courage and love?

the road of human tenderness

These lines were penned by the first Quaker Nobel Peace Prize winner, Emily Greene Balch, who won the award in 1946:

Let us be patient with one another,
And even patient with ourselves.
We have a long, long way to go.
So let us hasten along the road,
The road of human tenderness and generosity.
Groping, we may find one another’s hands in the dark

As a historical note, Quakers have been awarded the Peace Prize multiple times:

1977 Amnesty International (founded by Quakers)
1947 Friends Service Council, American Friends Service Committee (both are Quaker organizations)
Though she was raised Quaker, she later became Presbyterian:
1931 Jane Addams

There may be other Quaker Peace Prize winners that I’m not aware of….do let me know if I’ve missed any.

Oh, and how do you feel about Al Gore’s award? You can weigh in over at John’s blog.