Exploring Ways To Make Peace Within
Ourselves & the World

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Why Do I Write This Blog???

The easiest (and probably the most honest) answer to that question is: I don't know. It all started in the summer of 2005, when I went to Crawford, Texas ( a.k.a. the home of the prez's ranch, a.k.a. the home of Camp Casey) to support Cindy Sheehan. I wanted the world to know that, contrary to what one could read in the mainstream media, the peace movement was alive and well and large numbers of Americans did not support the war in Iraq. I wanted people to know that thousands of Americans were willing to travel to Texas and tolerate the heat, humidity, and bugs in order to support a grieving mother whose new purpose was to shine a light on the lies that led to the war and to bring home our troops so that no other mother would have to know the pain that she felt.

Over time, this blog has become more of an exploration of who I am, my spirituality, and how life works. I love life's complexities, exploring the shades of gray. I want to, as Rainier Maria Rilke said,

"Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer."

Maybe my blog is just one big question about what is needed in order for people to take the time to love and cherish each other and our earth. Maybe someday, I will "live along some distant day into the answer."

In the meantime, thank you for joining me on my journey. I welcome you to share yours with me

Thursday, July 20, 2006

Singing in Baghdad

Last night, we finally watched our DVD of Singing in Baghdad. Cameron and Kristina - aka Musical Missions for Peace - have traveled throughout the Middle East numerous times, bringing people together through music. They have also given hundreds of presentations all over the U.S., letting us know the wonderful and welcoming ways of our Middle Eastern neighbors.

I first saw Cameron and Kristina give their presentation at the local Unitarian Church. Then, they were kind enough to join a group of us when we brought together a group of Muslims, Unitarians, and people from "other assorted belief systems" for a barbeque. They are real people who are living their truth and making a difference.

Our government and media have done us and the world a great disservice by constantly portraying people from the middle east as "Muslim Fundamentalists", "terrorists", and "Islamic jihadists". Yeah, there are certainly people who fit into those categories (if you like putting labels on people), but we have "Christian Fundamentalists", "terrorists", and a government that kills, overthrows, sanctions, or whatever it wants to do to maintain power and control also. The everyday people all over the world just want to live their lives. We give too much power to the few who wish to do harm, when we could be spending our time learning to love our brothers and sisters more deeply.

Watching the people in Baghdad gather around Cameron and Kristina to sing and dance, I saw a light in their eyes, an aliveness that I don't see here much. And we think that we have it all.

"For a nonviolent person, the whole world is one family. He will thus fear none, nor will others fear him." - Mahatma Gandhi

Labels: cameron and kristina, musical missions