I haven’t felt the inclination to post. I’ve reverted to my introverted self because I’m too tired to deal with people most of the time and the introvert has been greatly reinforced of late. But I saw something this morning and I wanted to share it.

I stumbled on this in a series of serendipidous interwebz clicks.


I opened up my Twitter the other day and witnessed a perfect example of putting the focus on the wrong aspect of what someone has said and assuming their intentions. Instead of being a conversation about why something was felt to be offensive, it became an attack with name-calling and everything.
I’ve read and heard things from people that fell under the category of “prejudiced/racist”, but instead of judging them and writing them off, I’ve tried to focus on the words they used, what those words convey as a message and that’s been the starting point of the bigger conversation. Sometimes you won’t be able to have the conversation with the interested party... but you gotta try.
Conversations... man, that’s sorely lacking in the world today.

Maybe this is the perfect day for me to start posting again, as I celebrate the 20th anniversary of Mr. Mandela's release from jail. Maybe I’ll get rid of the little voice in my head that keeps me from interacting and just share.

The quest…

In the last days, I’ve read, lived, and witnessed interesting discussions. I don’t know about you, but it dawned on me that when you open your mind to a concept, it’s as if a floodgate opened and all of a sudden, it’s everywhere. It’s the concept of visualizing what you want and putting it out into the world.


Someone once said to me “your perception is your reality”.

I truly get it now…

So, what will I be sending out into the world? A desire to converse, the willingness to create understanding, compassion for others, love for every human being... Peace.

If we treat each other with respect, are willing to co-exist, renounce violence, the world would be a better place.

Recently, I chose to converse with someone whose views offended me. I was on a message board and witnessed others who, instead of listening and discussing, merely dismissed the other person. I was told to ignore the person. I saw people call him an idiot. People who said they admired our veterans and active duty troops for their sacrifices so that we may enjoy freedom, were telling this person to shut up.

I chose to converse. I refused to marginalize... and you know what? It was interesting. The tone changed... We may not have come to a mutual agreement, but at least we respected each other and we learned temperance.

Please read the Charter for Compassion in that nifty widget up there or go to their website by clicking HERE... and join us.

BlogBlast for Peace is finally here. Yay!

I’ve been struggling with this post (yes, me too Mimi). I’ve started about 5 different versions. This is because for one, I’m a procrastinator and when a procrastinator tries to go against her character and starts something too early… well, it gets complicated. The other reason is that a lot has happened in my life since the last BlogBlast of November 2008. I joined the ranks of the unemployed, I’ve had my share of illness, I lost my Dad… and through all this, I’ve been trying to find a new path to my Peace in this challenging year.

This BlogBlast finds me asking myself about My Peace… Where does it reside? There’s the obvious “All you need is Love” and “Peace begins with Me”, and they are both true. By loving those around me, by showing kindness to strangers, by offering a friend a comforting hug, by giving of my time at my Chicklet’s school, I send out a ripple into the world. Letting people know they matter. That someone cares.

Love and Understanding…

The losses I’ve lived through, struggled with in the past couple of years, prepared me for the past few weeks… That’s what life is, isn’t it? Woody was right. We change and grow.

I’m one of many, a bee, a part of The Hive.

The understanding reached and the beliefs that were forged during those challenges life threw at me prepared me to sit vigil with the woman who inspired this day. It allowed me to fulfill my part in her journey. Each bee in her hive had something to do, a specific task. Some bees, who had lost a parent or sat vigil themselves with a family member, shared their insight. Some bees, kept collecting the pollen and scouring the earth for new and undiscovered fields. The Hive hummed and buzzed. Friends came together.

So… My Peace…



Arlo (Woody’s son and a fine troubadour in his own right) once said that accepting someone else’s opinion brings with it a “challenge to your own understanding”.

I like that… a challenge to your understanding. I’ve long held in my heart that if you can’t be bothered with finding out why people hold to certain beliefs, you’ll never achieve understanding… and you’ll never achieve Peace.

I recently read this quote:



It’s a statement that governs my life. Not that I tout myself as an “educated mind”... But this is why I have to pick things apart. So I can understand where people come from, what their reality is. I’ve been doing this for as long as I can remember.

I can’t walk away from differences… I need to understand. It’s the only path I know to acceptance, to Love and Understanding… to Peace.



In all these days I’ve been posting about Peace, I have never asked the question.

I mean, from what I see, with Peace Globes being crafted all throughout the Bloggosphere, and people marching for peace worldwide… and groups popping up everywhere on Facebook and iPeace and BloggerUnite…

Why?
Why is it that with what feels like the whole world asking for Peace, why are we not there yet?
How is this possible?
How can we look into a child’s eyes and not want Peace? And not FEEL Peace?!
What is keeping us from achieving what the clear majority of human beings on Earth seem to want?

I just don’t get it.

It would help if we knew why. I mean really… Because when you know what the obstacle is, you can overcome it. Understanding.

Recently, I accompanied my Chicklet as she embarks on her journey towards High School *sigh* HIGH SCHOOL!!! (um, excuse me, I need to take a moment and regroup… hug each other in the mean time… I’ll be right back…)

Ok… So, Chicklet goes off to do her thing while I sit in the same auditorium I used to sit in as a teenager, watching the plays the theatre group had put on, watching movies the school felt they wanted us young minds to experience… I sat there listening to the vice-principal tell us about the program we were, as families, considering for our precious children.

She talked about the values the program was based on.

One in particular stood out. Because lately, Peace is everywhere I look... like spooooooky… but in the best possible way.

It was about diversity, and about being able to come together and challenge our ideas and views and opinions.



She talked about how the children were encouraged to put on debates, to take positions, to listen to other people’s points of view… but that just walking away after each opinion was stated wasn’t where it would stop at the school.

As she said (or something like it - in French): “when you discuss, have multiple exchanges back and forth,… each time clarifying each position… at some point you just might find that both parties meet in the middle and come to a unified and slightly different point of view than each of them held in the very beginning. Sometimes, one person learns something knew, or gets a different angle about something and it affects their position. But even if nothing changes, at least they know each other a little more.”




I participate in BlogBlast, because I believe in Peace. I participate because, like Mimi and my fellow Peace Bees, I believe in the power of words…. I believe that we might reach people through them. It’s not enough to preach to the choir. We need to reach the people who are skeptical about the feasibility of achieving Peace. We’re after a culture of Peace…
This means getting through to people who are pessimistic about Peace, who may have hatred and fear in their hearts, who are just cynical and refuse to join a movement that’s about Hope. We must get through to the people who have wrapped themselves in the “woobies” that are their opinions… because you don’t grow if you don’t challenge yourself and your beliefs. You end up stuck trying to milk a dead cow.

If we stop just because someone crosses their arms, we’ll have let Peace down… We’ll have let each other down.
Walking away is not an option. It just isn’t… Not if you care.
I can only imagine how many wars were sparked by someone leaving the discussion too early. To achieve Love and Understanding, we must be willing to stay and talk, even if it’s uncomfortable, even if we don’t agree.

When someone walks away, stay… wait for them to come back. Sometimes the wait is long… we are now taking up what was started by those who came before us.

Words matter. The words to this song were written by Woody Guthrie. He was one of the first artists to realize that music could be an agent for change. I was born on the anniversary of Woody’s passing.
As Arlo tells us in this video, his father never wrote down the music that went with the words and took it with him when he passed… it was up to Arlo to set his father’s words to music. Much like it was up to Mimi to take her Papa's marbles and start the BlogBlast for Peace.
I know you’ve already spent some time here reading my ramblings and I appreciate it (maybe you’re a masochist), and there are many Peace Bloggers and Bees to visit… but listening to Arlo is one of those gifts of Love and Understanding. I hope you’ll listen. If not now, maybe soon… we’ll wait.

Like Arlo says.. it’s about the little peace that’s in you that makes people happy to see you, the one that makes the dogs lick you and the babies smile…