Exploring Ways To Make Peace Within
Ourselves & the World

Women In Black Denver, Colorado

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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

 

Monday, May 12, 2008

True Songs of Peace

I have written before about Cameron and Kristina and their Musical Missions for Peace. They have traveled numerous times throughout the Middle East, Cameron playing his oud and Kristina letting her beautiful voice put smiles on every face within earshot. When they're back home in the U.S., they cross the country giving presentations about their experiences in the Middle East. They do this
"...so that Americans can see more clearly who the Arabic-speaking people really are...
...and so that Arabs can see that there are Americans who love their music and culture and who do not believe that war is the answer..."
Cameron and Kristina are in Jordan right now, singing with Iraqi refugees. Kristina's thoughts on American loneliness/Arab community gave me a different perspective on that little voice inside my head that calls me to go hide faraway in solitude every few months.

Cameron Writes:
We spent last night surrounded by 30 Iraqi refugees singing the "old music" for us: this gathering had been organized to honor our return. Our host works diligently with his violin to magnetize us all into the unified field of the music...

...As I look at the faces around me, all men and women who are now exiled from their homeland, I can see the different mixes of hardships and suffering. And I see the childlike joy with which the music emerges from their souls.

We have begun dialogue with the owner of a music shop regarding our Musical Mission of Peace designed to offer support to Iraqi refugees here in Jordan by financially encouraging their children's musical education.

We will soon make a loop through Syria where an even larger number of Iraqi refugees are currently in residence. It is said that at least two million Iraqis have fled to Jordan and Syria to escape the disorder and violence in their homeland. But neither Jordan nor Syria has the infrastructure to offer employment to so many. That is why we are here. We will do what we can, in our own musical way, to provide a pipeline of financial support from sympathetic Americans.
Kristina Writes:
May 9, 08 Day one
As I walked down the street today in Amman, Jordan, tears came to my eyes. I felt like I had come home. This feels like home to me not because the sights are familiar or particularly beautiful. The buildings are mostly grey concrete colors. The streets are dirty. Many people smoke and I dislike the smell of tobacco inside the shops. It's just that there is something else in the air that feels more powerful than the smoke.

So how do I explain to you what it is?

Maybe security is a part of it. If I should fall down everyone around me would come to my rescue. If I should get lost someone would personally guide me back to my hotel. No one is trying to steal my purse. Every shopkeeper and almost every other person I meet on the street is saying a sincere "Welcome" or "Hi."

Maybe it is that there is less fear. I have very little fear here. My heart is so open, because every other heart it meets is so open to me.

I guess another word might be "relief." I don't have to be an island. Women in the lobby of the hotel, whom I have never met before, motion for me to sit down next to them. I am welcomed. I don't have to be alone. Relief to know you're surrounded by loving beings.
Isn't that what home is?

I've heard that there is no word in Arabic for "alone", the closest word means "lonely".
I wonder why I, an American, need "retreat time" or "personal space" or "time to collect my thoughts" or "time to regroup" or just time to shut out the world and rest? For an Arab, time alone is just "lonely." Do we Americans tend to stress each other out? Why do we need a break from each other? Here they just like to sit close to each other and feel the connection. The air is filled with the currents of acceptance, less judgment, more connection. Like Fayez the hotel owner here says, "Arabs are your friend immediately." You don't have to "earn their trust." It's just so much easier this way.


For more information, visit MusicalMissions

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