Wednesday, April 25, 2007
May 13--A Positive Demonstration of Our Own Commitment to Attaining a Better Future
Dear Souls who will stand together on May 13,
The
response to our call has now spread throughout the world. We will have
people standing throughout the world in groups ranging in sizes of one
to thousands. We are in awe of the possibilities for our future.
We
know from the kind and gentle wording of so many of the messages that
we have received that our sisters and brothers will be standing in
honor of the intent of the original call--a positive demonstration of our
commitment to do what we can individually and collectively to attain a
better future for our children, grandchildren and the seven generations
beyond. We are not asking that someone else make this future happen,
but rather acknowledging that we can create our future. We are not
protesting anything, but rather committing to our future.
Thank you, dear sisters and brothers, for standing with us and for honoring the intent of the call.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
After May 13, What Next?
Many have begun asking what happens after we have stood together on May 13. What should we do next?
Our
hope is that the very act of gathering and standing together in silence
will inspire and energize all of us to take actions that will help
realize our dream of a better world for our children, grandchildren and
the seven generations beyond them.
The most important ideas for
what comes next will come from you. We hope that in the discussions
that follow your standing, you will develop ideas to share with all of
us. We are in the process of creating a page on the StandingWomen site
that will allow all of you to offer suggestions, tell us about existing
organizations and efforts, and that will permit connecting links to
occur by areas of interest.
We have great power to shape the
world to achieve our dreams. Individuals, in deciding how to spend
their time and where to donate their money, can have an enormous impact
on the world. For example, students from a school in the Bronx, P.S.
52, made up of some of the poorest kids in the area, after seeing the
water scarcity in a UN video hosted by rap star JayZ, got together
their pennies, dimes and nickels and raised over $2,000 to send to the
most drought affected villages.
In many countries we, as
individuals, through how we cast our votes, can help our elected
officials come to see that they are the guardians of our children's and
grandchildren's future and that every decision they make should be made
within this context.
In this internet age, we also can band
together collectively. We suggest that you look at the work of these
existing groups that already bring women together internationally to
change the world:
Women's Intercultural Network www.win-cawa.org
Gather the Women www.gatherthewomen.org
The Millionth Circle www.millionthcircle.org
Circle Connections http://www.circleconnections.com/
Peace X Peace www.peacexpeace.org
UNIFEM www.unifem/org
For U.S. women, we also recommend
U.S. Women Connect www.uswc.org
Stand Up and Vote http://www.standupandvote.org/partners.html
One.org
ONE (www.ONE.org).
ONE: The campaign to Make Poverty History is a coalition of over 2.4
million supporters and over 100 of the nation's most well-known and
respected non-profit, advocacy and humanitarian organizations. ONE is a
new effort by Americans to rally Americans--ONE by ONE--to fight the
emergency of global AIDS and extreme poverty. ONE is students and
ministers, punk rockers and NASCAR moms, Americans of all beliefs and
backgrounds, united as ONE to help make poverty history.
In our work, we can be guided by quotes from Margaret Mead and Helen Keller:
"Never
doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change
the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever does." Margaret Mead
"I
am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I
can do something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do." Helen Keller
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Wonderful Note from Sharon Mehdi, author of Great Silent Grandmother Gathering
Sharon
Mehdi, the author of The Great Silent Grandmother Gathering, sent us
this wonderful note that follows. We share it here with her permission.
She also sent us the superb poem by Margaret Robison that follows
Sharon's note. We share it her with Margaret's permission.
I want to tell you a story.
Last
summer during the Lebanon-Israeli altercation, a handful of us started
standing every morning from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. in our beloved Lithia Park
here in Ashland. We continued standing until November. Three months.
Seven days a week. No matter what the weather. It was hard. Our backs
hurt and our bones ached.
As summer turned to fall and the
mornings got colder, we wore layer upon layer to try to keep warm.
Sometimes there were four or five of us, sometimes 18 or 20. At the end
of our stand each day, we joined hands in a circle and sang: "Peace is
flowing like a river/ flowing out from you and me/flowing out into the
desert/setting all the people free."
On a grand and global
scale, what we did was insignificant. But it was what we could do and
we were committed to it. Like the wonderful Helen Keller quote: "I am
only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can
do something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do."
Perhaps
it didn't transform the world, but it transformed us. Our local
newspapers ran front page stories about us. Ours is a tourist town and
visitors took pictures of us standing. No signs, no banners. Just
standing. Sometimes they joined us. And sometimes they emailed friends
back home. One woman from your own state of Ohio wrote that she lived
on a farm and didn't have a park or a group of women to stand with, so
every morning she stood in her cornfield. She said she pretended all
the cornstalks were women standing with her. She wanted us to know she
was doing what she could.
You Ohio women have put so much energy
and creativity and hard work into the invitation to others of us,
around the world, to stand on May 13th. Your sincerity spoke to my
heart. That is the magic. Women from the heartland, inviting others to
stand at a certain moment on a certain day to save the world. The word
is spreading. Friend to friend. You are empowering women all over to
find their own way, their own park, their own cornfield.
The glory of your dream is that it is not organized. It is spontaneous and it is holy.
Love, Sharon
POEM
To Save the World by Margaret Robison
I sit still in my wheelchair
With my back straight, my head erect.
I breathe in the warm air of the room.
Out my window light from the full moon Shines on the dark water.
I breathe the warm air out.
This house is quiet tonight.
I too am quiet.
I breathe the warm air in.
On the mountain across the river a train passes
Howling its plaintive howl.
I breathe the warm air out.
The night is silent once again.
Light from the full moon shines on the dark water.
What did I do to save the world today?
I watched no news on TV.
I walked in no protest demonstrations.
I wrote no letters to Senators or Representatives.
I sat very still in my wheelchair a long time.
I held my back straight and my head erect.
I breathed in the warm air of this room.
I breathed out the warm air of my body.
And all the time,
I was smiling.
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