Dec 06 2009
What she’s up to now
Last December I wrote about my mother’s habit of anonymously giving away $20.00 bills to folks who look in need of a little windfall before the holidays. (See blog entry December 1, 2008) This year she’s “reading for peace.”
My mother lives in Canada, and on November 11, called Remembrance Day in that country, there are ceremonies of patriotism and prayer honoring those men and women who have fought and died in wars. Early in the month she asked herself, “What contribution could I make toward the idea of enduring peace and no more wars?”
A friend had lent her a book of religious poetry that included sections on courage, war, and peace. My mother reports, “Many of the poems in that book were from the period of World War One, the time when Britain lost a whole generation of poets, artists and musicians. And many of the poems were heartbreaking calls for peace and prayers for help and guidance. Reading them over and over brought me to feel they needed sharing, so I decided I would find a way to do just that.”
In the little town of Chemainus, British Columbia, up the block from where my mother is a member of a small congregation of the United Church of Canada, her minister, Fran, presided over the local ceremony. After the flags had been paraded by aging veterans and prayers said and taps played, my mother set up a music stand in the city park and proceeded to read poetry to anyone who cared to stop by and listen.
My mother is 89 years old. While this statement may conjure an image of white-haired frailty, my mother is brown-haired, sturdy, dynamic, progressive, and daring. A young friend of hers, a ‘surrogate daughter’ about my own age, helped her make a flyer explaining what she’s doing, and on December 1st she went up the highway to the largest mall in the city of Nanaimo to stand under the clock tower and read poems for peace to the shoppers. She emailed me her plans, “Kate will be coming with me to help me setup. She made a few suggestions, such as printing a flyer to hand out, doing a choral reading out of it with her and me alternating, etc. However, I want it to appear unstaged and spontaneous and simple but I will not be alone.” We, her far-flung children, are glad she’s not alone.
Among other selections, she’s reading from the Peace Poem, a project from the United Nations sent out to all primary, secondary, and home schools throughout the world to submit two lines of poetry on peace. The resulting contributions from 38 countries were presented on the web and if printed runs 64-pages of verse. And she’s reading from the book Christmas in the Trenches, the story of the spontaneous Christmas Truce between ordinary foot soldiers in 1914.
She’s also sent out a letter to several of the area churches announcing, “If you care to include announcement of my reading in your bulletin I would be grateful to have people know where I am and stop by. I would also be willing to read to Sunday school classes or other occasions. This is a strictly personal activity of mine and should in no way be construed as an action of the Presbytery.”
And that’s the point: that she has the courage and creativity to come up with a strictly personal activity that challenges the status quo and empowers her voice in the world.
As Clarissa Pinkola Estes says, “Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach.”
I believe world peace is achieved and sustained by each one of us taking responsibility for the quality of what happens within a five foot radius of our own bodies, in our own lives. If there is peace in my radius and yours and his and hers and theirs—then there is peace in all of ours.
And that is the greeting that makes the most sense to me every year when this season rolls around: Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.
What shall we each do this holiday season as a strictly personal activity that shakes up our complacency and models our ability to stretch out and mend the world within our reach?
I look forward to collecting ideas that we may share with each other.
Copyright ©2009 Christina Baldwin. All rights reserved.
This is a wonderful story, and your mom sounds like a fabulous person. I love what she is doing and would like to re-publish this story in my blog, My Story Lives, to challenge other people to step out of complacency this holiday season! May I? (I was at a conference where you spoke in Denver.)
this is truly a story of the heart of this holiday season. usually at this time of year, i send with a card a poem that expresses something essential but this year i am sending out this story of your mother. thank you for taking the time to write it and share it. it is very moving and what a rich legacy you have, Christine, to have had a mother like that! Her life is a blessing to many.
Christina,
I loved reading what your mother is doing now. What a marvelous soul she is, fully living every moment of her time on this earth…at 89, still contributing in creative ways to the overall good. Last year, I adopted her practice of giving $20 bills. You can tell her that she’s a great long-distance mentor!
As for what we’re doing now to bring people together (a question in your November blog), we at J-Bar Ranch Center for Experiential Learning have just launched our 2009-2010 class of Horse and Reader. Yesterday, we had Family Orientation at our ranch. In our opening Circle of Trust, I read a quote from Chief Seattle. “If all the animals were gone, man would die from a great loneliness of spirit.” The quote goes on to say that we are all connected and “of the earth.” With her permission, we also used a wonderful Mary Ann Kennedy song, “The Trail Less Traveled,” as the theme of our work. She quotes Chief Seattle in her song. We played our new DVD, a record of the work kids did in our Horse and Reader pilot last spring, for the kids and assembled parents. Our DVD is a slide show set to “The Trail Less Traveled.” The kids who’ve come for our Horse and Reader program are all Native American or of mixed blood, with official tribal affiliations. Many of them come from families who receive cash aid through Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. Our program is free to them, with the tab paid by a tribal coalition, The Owens Valley Career Development Center. Our focus is academic intervention for the kids, though they get so much more in socio-emotional learning, new learning about horses and Native American culture–and we learn so much from them. Last year, the kids wrote and published three books.
Our horses are the draw for the kids and families to come here, and they’re genuine co-facilitators in our work. This year, we’re going to launch with the concept of Winter Counts, since we’re starting classes during the winter, when days are short and our after-school program, from 4-6 PM, will certainly be an experience in winter.
The Sioux Winter Counts were a calendar of sorts. They recorded each year with a drawing that symbolized the year’s significance. We’ll be asking our kids, now mostly 4th-7th graders, and their families, to discuss each year of their lives and to come up with a symbolic representation for each. We’ll paint those symbols on faux suede or leather, with children and participating adults creating individual documentations of their lives. In the process, they’ll need to talk with the elders in their families and gather family stories. As background research, the kids will create family trees, and we’ll study about their tribes. We hope that this project will give each kid and family a deep sense of pride about who they are.
Of course, we’ll be reading a lot about the historical Winter Counts, using reference books I’ve gathered from the Smithsonian’s Museum of the American Indian. We believe that this process will foster good communication among family members, will enable us to teach reading comprehension strategies and history, will be lots of fun, and will help us get through the dark winter days when our barn classroom will be whipped by rain and wind. We’ll huddle around our outdoor-restaurant-style propane heaters, with horses’ heads poking out of stall doors, as we do this learning together. On good weather days, we’ll also work with horses outdoors, learning to groom and to lead. On two Saturdays per month, we’ll learn to ride.
We wish we were closer to you, Christina, and that we could join your story circle with physical presence. Just know that we’re out here in the San Joaquin Valley of California, blessed by a circle of our own, and including you. Your STORYCATCHER book and blog do much to enrich our planning.
Warmly,
Jan Loveless
Thank you for this story. And next time you see your mother, please thank her for me for her stand and for her courage. And give her an extra hug. Love to you and yours.
Thank you for the inspirational story about your 89 year old mother. You go Momma!
Three cheers to your Mom! Please tell her that she is even touching people all the way to Chicago! What a gift she is to all that listen to her as she speaks others words about what she and they hold important.
As simple as this sounds, a little smile to everyone who crosses my path is what action I find important and worth the time. The smile back speaks volumes and gives me great hope that our hearts can understand the true values including peaceful treatment to every being. In a multicultural city that I live in, I think that this gesture is powerful enough to send snippets of hope all around the world to every location that we have come from.
Peace to all this holiday season with a smile
Christina — may I post this on my Facebook page? Giving you complete credit, of course.
MaryEllen
Christina,
Whenever I hear someone, including myself, express exasperation or helplessness over what to do about our troubled world, I will remember and be strengthened your courageous mother.
With thanks,
Sandy
Love this story! Thanks
Beth
Ah, Christina ~ on this day, when a friend and I are honoring the waters for Solstice, you once again bring tears to my eyes. From raindrops to teardrops, we are all connected. Bless your Mother, she inspires me completely. And, Bless You ~ who so deeply writes of convictions and social change that is possible. Namaste, Shirley
Christine
I echo jeanne’s thoughts and send a virtual hug to both you and your mother. What a wonderful lady. I too, smile to strangers as I love to see the look on their faces and how they smile back unexpectedly. I walk my dog every day and when doing so, I wave to drivers who pass us. I hope that by touching one more person each day they are inspired to do the same. thank you! I am so glad that I found your blog through Ali Edwards blog - she posted your book on her site today.
All the best for a story filled new year!
Sharon
Christina- loved the story about you Mom- didn’t know she was a fellow Canadian. Am a newcomer to blogging (mine is The Green Bough at oriahsinvitation.blogspot.com-please do visit) and to Facebook, which is how I heard about your blog. Hope you are well. All good things for 2010, Oriah
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