View from the Ferry

Here is an email I received today.  Its getting really close to V-Day.....

Hello everyone!

Yesterday I was out visiting the Camp Elphinstone (where you will be this summer). To get there from Vancouver you need to take a 40 min ferry ride and it was a beautiful sunny day for the trip. The view of the mountains from the ferry was lovely so I took this photo and thought I’d share with you:-)

All the best!

Robyn

--
Robyn Heath | Program Director - Community Operations
YMCA of Greater Vancouver

You Are Free by Mates of State

Stop telling me the right way to go
I'm on my own
You're selling our old ways
Stop telling me the right way to go

You are free
You are free
Living things need to be free
You are free
Like everything wants to be

"You Are Free" by Mates of State

I heard a funny joke by a Daily Show corrispondant John Oliver talking about how in America he saw in the store window a floating grill.  It was a grill with foam or whatever to keep it floating so you could grill WHILE you are swimming.  He said, "If that isnt the epitome of freedom, I dont know what is. You are free if you can grill while swimming"
He has a pretty funny view of Americans and American values (very left wing) but undeniable even to right wingers in Comedy Central special called "Terrifying Times" It's pretty funny if you have the time.

That stand up routine and then Mates of State coming up on my iPod as well as the meeting of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom meeting I attended this weekend made me think about consumerism and how good we Americans are at it.  Its amazing the amount of junk we can consume. It really is the epitome of freedom.  John Oliver also said, "Can Americans make the floating grill? Yes. Will Americans buy the floating grill? Yes.  Can China make the floating grill? Yes.  Will China buy the floating grill? NO." We as consumers are the only people who can change our current economic state, change politics and really be free.  Free from the junk and ideas that we NEED things.  Just because we can doesn't mean we should!

Challenge #1: Do not buy something new if the old still works.  i.e. I just said the other day, "I should get some new kitchen garbage bins." Why? "They are old and kinda smell" Really?? Wash them Andrea.  they are fine. 

Challenge #2: Buy local.  Not just in your neighborhood cause lots of times even that stuff is imported.  Really buy local, it might cost a buck or two more but if everyone did that our local economy would be stimulated and everyone would win.  And, we could rely less on imports and in turn rely LESS ON GOVERNMENT.  Personally, I dont want to ever get to the point that everything in my life is affected by the man.  I'll spend the extra $0.30 on the lettuce to try to move toward that. 

Challenge #3: Do something that makes you uncomfortable every day.  Being uncomfortable leads to growth.  And everyone can afford to keep growing.

"You Are Free" by Mates of State via YouTube

(Not the best recording but still good)

Ignorance and Furr

“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.”
- Stephan Hawking

 

Ignorance.  Isn't everyone ignorant? You could be one of the smartest, most worldly, culturaly savvy people and still be ignorant.  There are tons of intelligent ignorant people.  Many times its the inability to question the things that are heard and people believing everything told to them. Thinking that you've learned enough.  Being set in your ways, traditions, ideals.  Things change and if you think you have more knowledge then everyone else, you have a lot to learn. 

I love learning anything and everything I can.  Someday I'll be wise.  But, I'll still have a lot to learn.  The Youth Peace Network will teach me a lot about a lot. I just realized yesterday that I leave in under a month and its the first time I'm nervous and scared.  I've been stressed out and I'm so close to hitting my fundraising goal and having things figured out.  So much to do, so little time. Plus, I'll leave and not see my sister for a year when she goes to Korea to teach English. But, its worth it. 

If I can erase even a little bit of ignorance in myself and then in others it will be totally worth it. 

Here is a song by Blitzen Trapper, a great band that I spend a lot of time singing to in the car.  Here is one of their best singles, Furr from the album Furr.  It is to me a song that talks about the changes from youth, running free and doing what you want, to adulthood and growing up; changing from "fur to skin".  Its a cool catchy tune and a band to check out. 

Do you know what a peace pole really means?

“Cause and effect, means and ends, seed and fruit cannot be severed; for the effect already blooms in the cause, the end preexists in the means, the fruit in the seed” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

The actions that we do always have a reaction, a cause and effect.  I've been noticing this more and more in recent months.  Its how one day you see your life in one direction and the next you're pushed/embraced/pulled/thrown in another direction.  How one deals with the eminant change is a tribute to their charactor. 

Cause and effect is constant.  For me, it is the blossoming opportunities by meeting groups of people who are inspiring and interesting to say the least.  I sent out a letter, to organizations who work toward peace.  In turn i was contacted by a few and got to meet people who have a mission that most have been committed to for years. One of these is a group  recently went to meet with  called World Citizen and the Foundation for Global Citizens.  They were a group of about 10 people who get together twice a month and discuss the world. They put on events and speakers and this meeting I was invited.  One of the World Citizen goals is to educate people about local Peace Sites.  Which many of the YMCA's in the Twin Cities are. According to the Peace Pole Project, a Peace Pole is an internationally-recognized symbol of the hopes and dreams of the entire human family, standing vigil in silent prayer for peace on earth. Each Peace Pole bears the message May Peace Prevail on Earth in different languages on each of its four or six sides. There tens of thousands of Peace Poles in nearly every country in the world dedicated as monuments to peace.

International Peace Sites often have a "peace pole" that looks like this:

Of course, our peace pole at the Y does not have a beach in the background.  But, it does mean the same thing no matter where you are. 

Peace Sites are committed to:

• Seek peace within yourself and others
• Reach out in service
• Protect the environment
• Promote intercultural understanding and celebrate diversity
• Be a responsible citizen of the world

So now you know what it means when you see one of these.  (effect)

The other cause and effect situation I've found myself in is with the organization WILPF.  You may remember this organization from an earlier post.  The Women's International League for Peace & Freedom has invited me to be guest speaker at their "Coffee and Discussion" event. 

PEACE?

JUSTICE?

or . . . ?

WILPF  Coffee With Discussion

The Peace Movement:

            Hopes, Prospects, Priorities

Brainstorm with a panel of members on program ideas from US & International WILPF.

Plus hear a voice from a new generation—

Special guest Andrea Lewis, US Representative to the 2012 Youth Peace Network, a 3-month program this summer in Vancouver, BC, sponsored by the Canadian International Development Agency & the Vancouver YMCA.

SATURDAY, MAY 12, 10 am–noon

Van Cleve Community Ctr., 901 15^th Ave. SE, Mpls

Refreshments, free, everyone welcome!

MN Metro Branch

Women's International League for Peace & Freedom (www.wilpfmn.org); 612-922-7993

I may not know anything about the future of the peace movement, but I may be living it so I guess I can just speak to what I know. 

Everything I have done to date has had a cause and effect.  Deciding I could never be a Banker, led me to Non Profit work. The YMCA led me to Vancouver. Who knows where Vancouver could lead. 

Side Note: Congrats to my sister Alicia Lewis who is graduating from college this weekend.  I'm so proud of her.  Now she has the degree (cause) and the effect is to be determined, but I know it will be great!