Peace making ideas for fall

Fall enters gracefully around here, and I embrace it. Plenty of peace making activities come our way in the fall.

For example, elections. November 3 is not far away. In Washington and perhaps your state too, the deadline to register is 30 days before the election. That's not to long from now, so if yo need to register, do it THIS WEEK. Are we not supposed to look out for the least of us? The poor, the young, the disenfranchised, the voiceless (i.e, environment)? -In other words, those who can't vote. Shouldn't those of us who can and do vote make sure our votes protec the least among us?

Gleaning is a great peacemaking activity. It is a good group activity, which builds relationships and connections. Also it's amazing how much good fresh local food gleaning can yield for the poor in our communities. A few years ago my daughter's school gleaned an orchard. In a few hours, with a few families, we filled a pickup truck with fresh, sweet apples. Fun, worthwhile, and tasty!

Thanksgiving is a fine holiday for peacemaking. It is not too afflicted with the sin of greed (read: rampant, blatant commercialism), but does flirt with the sin of gluttony. But please, DON'T call it turkey day. It's a day of thanks, and that is what we should do.

I like the idea of a thanksgiving calendar, like an advent calendar, with little windows that open each day to reveal one more thing to be thankful about.

I like to observe "international buy nothing day," which is the day after Thanksgiving. It's a fine day to keep expressing thanks, to spend with one's family, taking it easy in the kitchen!

When the days get darker and colder, it's a good time to read. Read good stuff, nourish your mind and your soul. As it gets darker and colder it's easier to get depressed. Having a stronger mind and soul will surely help.

peace, y'all

Molly

questions for candidates

My favorite group, the Friends Committee on National Legislation, has a nice publication on what questions to ask candidates. Banning cluster bombs, banning torture, reducing the risk of nuclear weapons, investing in children....what radical thoughts.

Oops! Elections are over! So, why not ask these questions of officeholders? The elections are over but our nation's problems are not. We still have hunger. We still have homeless folk. We still have unhealthy folks, and people with serious medical troubles (like my step-son--pray for him please?). Here in the richest country in the world we still have these troubles, and what about the rest of the planet?

No, the elections are but a speed bump on the path to the future. And let's keep working to make the future better.

I am still asking myself what I can do to make the world a better place, and I think a little consciousness-raising, by keeping these questions in the open, is another small step. So off I go. Join me!

A curious sense of peace, hope, and fear

I voted a few weeks ago. My county votes by mail entirely, so we don't cope with lines or have any sense of "going" to the polls. I have done my part, I have voted. I have given money to many of the candidates I support. Now, like millions of people in the world, I sit back and wait.

This is a strange sense of peace.

It is also a curious interregnum, bursting with hope and with fear. There is so much promise in the changing of leadership. There is potential--for good and for bad, for inspiration and for despair.

Some of my friends have described the event of the presidential election going to McCain/Palin as something akin to the end of the world, or of democracy as we know it. I hopefully disagree. I know that no matter how it turns out, millions of American citizens have become new voters, and that energy can move mountains, if we can harness it.

The attitude of gratitude

This old phrase sounded new again to me yesterday. At the beginning of a "now hear this" lecture about civility, the boss reminded us we do have a lot to be grateful for in these troubled times.

How true! How does this connect with peace? A few ways.

First, a thankful heart limits the danger of pride, and lets us remain humble and open.

Second, when we consider what we are thankful for, we are actually articulating the dividends of peace which we enjoy, and are naming what we need to share with others in the world.

Third, if we remain thankful we can avoid the paralysis of despair and helplessness that so often attend the focus on current events and personal woes.

I have a new thing to be thankful for: only 21 more days till this election is over.

Let's not talk about candidates' persaonal lives

Can we talk about the elections and focus on the nation's issues, rather than the candidates' personal lives?

My mother liked to point out that despite his huge popularity, John Kennedy was not a great president. And his successor, LBJ, though well known as a master tactician, actually got a lot down. Civil Rights Act, EEOC, for example. I was always quick to dismiss Clinton's zipper problems. And if Bush had any zippper problems, I would dismiss those too (albeit more reluctantly).

I don't think the mother of an infant, especially one with Down Syndrome, should take on a job as grueling as campaigning for the second highest office in the land. But that is to cricitize Sarah Palin's record as a mother. When considering her for the #2 spot in our nation, I will look to her record as a mayor and a governor.