Comment j'ai passe mon weekend

How I Spent My Weekend (in 10th grade French, it was the assignment every week to write an essay entitled "Comment j'ai passe mon weekend." It really stuck with me)

I attended the silent weekend for the Pacific NW Qtr of North Pacific Yearly Meeting. It was wonderful. No speech for 40 hours. We worshipped in meetings for worship and in mindful activities. It was rich, fun, and filled with grace.

I had hoped the weekend would recharge me spiritually and help me find ways to help Obama form a more perfect union.

It did, and I did.

Je me suis tres bien amusee (I had a very good time).

I lavished attention (really wallowing!) in the prayer structure I learned in the very amusing book The Year of Living Biblically, which I recommend cheerfully. The structure is ACTS. Adoration, Contrition, Thanksgiving, Supplication. The spirit really opened up and the Thanksgiving and supplication sections were huge, and wonderful. Then ideas poured forth, just as I'd hoped.

And that was only the first worship session, just after we clammed up our yappers!

More tomorrow

Peace, y'all

Molly

let the weekend begin

Another so-so day. But at least today had some smiles. and it's the anniversary (Thanks, Nebraskans for Peace!) of the end of France's nuclear testing in the South Pacific.

Talk about NIMBY. Testing in the South Pacific is the ultimate NIMBY for Western civ.

Tomorrow I drive to a Quaker silent weekend. I am so looking forward to it! Maybe I will come home refreshed and happier.

All is well, or at least okay

Peace, y'all

Molly

Protect children

Today I am in a prayerful mood, and not my usual ebullient self. So I will visualize myself as a hot knife slicing through butter, and get to the point (and then move one, prayerfully of course).

"There is no trust more sacred than the one the world holds with children. There is no duty more important than ensuring that their rights are respected, that their welfare is protected, that their lives are free from fear and want and that they grow up in peace. "
Kofi Annan, in "Foreword" to The State of the World's Children 2000

This one resonates with me because I am praying for the child of my coworker, whose troubles are acute, scary, and I hope not scarring. I also pray for my own child, who gets along with her father so poorly we are seeking counseling.

Peace to you

Molly

auschwitz, evil, and oblivous good-intentioned folks like me

The wonderful folks from Nebraskans for Peace made a great calendar that informs me that this is the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz camp. Only 64 years ago! That's one lifetime, or even less for the long-lived.

What is wrong with humans that they can do genocide? I really don't know, and that scares me. I believe good people can go with the flow and if the flow is toxic then good people do horrible things.

I know I am a good person and wonder what have I done, in oblivion, that is evil or toxic? They say if you pluck a flower, you shake a star. Our actions affect others just as ripples across a pond.

I would like to think good actions have good repercussions, so I will have to do some more good and find out.

Peace, y'all, like our lives depended on it! Perhaps they really do

Molly

How to talk with folks from the other view

My teenager chided me for bringing up the topic of the inauguration with one of her companions who is from a conservative home. Of course I knew her family's orientation. I wanted to open dialog. The companion didn't want to engage, so it didn't go anywhere (except my kid chiding me).

How should I open dialog with those whose views differ from mine? What I want is for us to look forward and find common ground. Positive ground. How? Maybe I should pose a question like, "What are your hopes for the next year?" or "next administration?"

Or perhaps I could share one of my favorite lines from the inauguration speech (or the invocation!!) and ask if others find inspiration in it as well.

I hope I can make some headway. I really want to make a little more peace in the real world.

Peace, y'all

Molly

small thoughts

My decision to stop partisanship is proceeding well enough. I haven't moved a mountain but I have changed myself and am working on those around me. So that is progress.

I received a nice thank you note today (for the inauguration eve party we held Monday) and think one good turn deserves another, so I will write a few notes today myself.

Peace....and quiet

Peace...and love

Peace....be with you

Molly

An end to bitter partisanship

Here is a happy convergence of my peacemaking urges and our President's call to action. Now is the time to set aside childish things, and work together to make America better. To choose our better history. President Obama also reminds us we cannot do great things unless we work together.

"Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions - who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is goined to common purpose, and necessity to courage."

He wants an end to bitter partisanship, and so do I.

Now I have criticized the other party in the past, with ease and enthusiasm. But I am ready to STOP and to look ahead. I am willing to find and build from common ground.

I think it's easy for most political people to slip into the end zones and ignore the huge common ground in the middle. Perhaps it's our baser nature. But we should live from a higher place, our better nature.

I don't think I can ask the other side to stop name-calling until I do, until my "side" does.

True, the other political side has made mistakes. True, they have zipper troubles, just as some of our side did. It's true the recent administration has eroded our nation's reputation and has driven up the deficit to terrifying levels.

But we cannot blame every problem on them. And even if we could, to what purpose? Rather, let's understand the problem and work together to find a solution.

I hope I don't sound pollyanna-ish. I want our country to heal and become a more perfect union, and don't think name-calling is the way, nor do I think that only half of this nation is right.

Please join me in ending bitter partisanship. Find and build on common ground, and treat fellow Americans with respect.

Molly