Friday, January 23, 2009

History in the making












What an exhilarating week! Just to open the paper and read good news ... eloquent words affirming of the values of inclusion, openness, equality, dignity, global understanding, human rights ... It feels like emerging from a long, dark tunnel.
The brightness of MLK Day seemed to set the tone for all that followed. That morning, two of my buddies with Nonmilitary Options for Youth met me at Huston-Tillotson University to man/woman our literature table, and it was a great sight to see the hundreds of marchers arrive from UT and the capitol, filling the space near H-T with voices, smiles and excitement.
We had a wonderful day. The mood was infused with anticipation of the next day's inaugural festivities, and there were lots of Obama images to be seen along with the MLK quotes and pictures.
At our Nonmilitary Options table, we set up our Peace Wheel of Fortune, as described in earlier blog posts. Folks loved it. Bunches of kids and adults came by to give the wheel a spin and to see who among the persons featured on it they might know. The idea is, those who can tell us something about the peacemaking efforts of the person on the wheel, wherever it stops, choose a prize ... and get to learn something in the process.
The peace heroes and sheroes featured on the wheel were: MLK, Gandhi, Cesar Chavez, Barbara Jordan, Helen Keller, John Lennon, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Flobots, Gator, Julia Butterfly Hill and Aung San Suu Kyi. How many of these folks do you know? Long live our (ongoing) peace history!

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