We Shall Overcome

Tonight, we attended the vigil and procession to replace the burned rainbow flag from the Unitarian church in my town. This post explained what had happened last week, which made so many of us quite sad and concerned.

The vigil began at a park in the Square at the center of town. My husband and I walked down at about 5:45, and wondered if anyone else would show. As we came closer to the Square, I began hearing drumming, and sure enough, there was a quartet of drummers in the park, holding their rainbow flags and grooving to a great beat. A small handful of people, none we knew, were milling about the small park. I felt a little uncomfortable not knowing anyone, but since this was not church that was affected, I was not surprised. I certainly was not too uncomfortable that I had to leave - I felt strongly about why I was there, and my shyness began to warm to the idea that maybe I would meet some new people from town.

Well, a few minutes later, and about another 75 people, I had found several people to talk to - some I knew and some I didn't. Some I recognized and some I didn't. After an hour, there were well over 150 people present, all lining the Square, waving flags and signs that said:

Our Town is No Place for Hate

I Am on This Side of Love

And as many rainbow flags and signs as you can imagine. One man danced around with his rainbow towel wrapped around him. Turns out, he came from over an hour away.

After waving to an hour's worth of Square traffic, we paraded up the street to the church to hang the new flag, complete with police escort (I loved that). It took a good 20 minutes to get everyone up to the lawn, and we made a huge circle of people, surrounding the minister. We sang a few verses of "We Are Gentle Angry People", listened to the minister speak about love and adversity, and watched as the new flag was hung in an even more prominent place for the whole town to see. We finished the event with several verses of "We Shall Overcome", as we automatically held hands with the person next to us. Due to all the people present, we all had to back up to include everyone, making the most enormous circle on the church grounds. It was touching - I hardly knew anyone, yet I felt such connection to everyone there. I was welcomed even though I did not attend the church. It was a humanitarian event, rather than a religious event, and all were welcome. The minister asked what towns people were from. I thought, "How funny" as I just assumed these were all people from my town, I just didn't know them. But no, they were from all over my state, happy to attend such an event - as a flag burning effects us all, no matter where you are from.

I was so proud to be a part of this. And walking up the hill to our house, our hearts warmed again to see our own rainbow flag gracing the front of our house, declaring our support of all the colors of humankind.

A Sad Act, A Kind Response

I have something to share with you all.

You know, typically I try to be light-hearted, silly and sometimes downright ridiculous with some of my posts, trying to inject some humor into our lives as we aim to do what's best for our families, and for ourselves. But today, I am saddened and frustrated by an act of wrong-doing in my community, and feel the need to share the information. I'm sharing not because I don't want to be alone in this frustration, no. I am sharing because I believe this insensitive and callous act is occurring all over our country. I have the sense that some people are too uncomfortable to talk about it, or don't feel they can make a difference, or perhaps feel so awkward with the subject matter that they prefer to look away, or keep quiet. But I am taking a bold step to speak about it here, with hopes that I am reaching out to a sensitive and empathic audience.

The act I am referring to is the recent burning of a rainbow flag at a church in my community. The flag was burned during the night, with only the charred remains left at the front step for all to find the next morning. No one knows who did this heinous act.

The rainbow flag stands for equality in my heart. Overall, it specifically stands for the acceptance of individuals who are lesbian/gay/bisexual or transgender. At this church, along with this typical representation, the flag stands as a welcome for all who enter. We are all different. We choose different paths, we show different colors, both in skin tones, and thoughts. We make decisions based on what we feel is best and from the perspective of our upbringing, our home-life and community. In no way do we all need to agree on every choice, but we do need to find a way to live, work, be together.

I know there are people in our world who feel that being anything other than heterosexual is wrong. And though this fact saddens me tremendously, the point of this post is not to open a debate on sexual preference. What I struggle with is the fact that there are individuals who feel that burning a flag, a flag that stands for independence, trust, acceptance, equality for ALL humans, is a worthwhile activity.

Apparently, this is happening outside other churches - in Massachusetts and other states. Such widespread anger and hostility toward the very idea that there could be a safe place for all individuals is mind boggling. Although I can't sit out at the church, watching for who comes to burn the new flag, I can stand up to the fact that individuals are being made to feel unsafe in my community by a senseless act of only a few. I can write about it, speak about it, and remind my children how these violent acts terrorize us all. I can understand how these acts generally come from a place of ignorance and fear, rather than anything rooted in reality.

In an act of support, my family has hung a rainbow flag outside our home. It is my town's hope that by hanging numerous flags throughout our neighborhoods, we will be displaying our support of the church, the individuals it serves, and the LGBT community. My hope is that we will increase the awareness of anyone traveling through that we will not accept acts of violence toward anyone, no matter what differences we may have between us.

I challenge you all to look into your hearts and find that place which wants to welcome everyone in. Consider speaking to others from that place. Making one person feel safe is one hundred times better than letting someone else bring terrorism into our hearts, even if we do not agree.

A Day At The Dump!

We had a great time this weekend, unloading my mother-in-law's house of it's recyclable material.  I always feel so good when I recycle, and this semi-annual event in her town is quite inspiring.  It's the 'drop and swap' day at her town recycling center, where you can bring along any number of recyclable materials to drop off.  We tossed various metal pieces and parts, lots of styrofoam, papers to shred.  We saw parts to playhouses (the nasty (but apparently recyclable) plastic kind), old, rusty bed frames, spent computer drives and monitors - you name it, we saw it.  If it had a recyclable element to it, it was there.  And the organization with which everything (except the parking) was handled was amazing to watch.  I was thrilled to see so many people out in droves to recycle everything they could.  They clearly had been saving up their items, as I watched several cars and trucks full to the brim with stuff piled on stuff -all recyclable, of course.  

The best part of this even is the swap part.  If you are a town resident, you can peruse the useable items that still had life left in them, but were unwanted.  We saw all sorts of electronics: stereos, computers, tvs, appliances.  We saw all sorts of interesting looking furniture and doo-dads.  We saw luggage, pictures, fishing and sports equipment.  We even saw a man and young child making art from the 'found' objects just outside of the swap area. 

The event lasts most of the day , and is held both Spring and Fall every year.  I can't wait to go again!

Does your town have a recycle day?

Is March Over Yet??

http://www.sionna.net/hos/images/FlowersInTheSnow.jpg

Spring is trying really hard.  I think although it is only the beginning of March, Spring is trying to get a hop on things.  The weather outside today could have been mistaken for a warm Spring day - at times even a very cool almost summer day.  It probably only hit around 55, but it felt like 68 - 70.  Wow - how just a few degrees make such a difference.  After months of intense heat (and high heating bills), I turned off the heater, left it off all day, and even OPENED THE WINDOWS!!  

For those of you who know New England, you know how crazy that is!  I was so tempted to go to the garden store to pick out flowers, veggies and grab another bag of mulch for the beds.  But then, a little voice (my son's) reminded me - "Mom, it's only March!"  Ugh.  Muddy March.  I really have a hard time loving this month.  It's long, muddy, and doesn't typically bring much celebration with it.  We do celebrate Easter, and occasionally it lands in March, so there are exceptions to my hating March rule.  But for the most part, I close my eyes and hold my breath until April 1st.  I can't help it - it's always been that way for me.

So I am working on what I can do to move through the month without cringing.  I can bake green gluten-free cupcakes for the 17th and St. Patrick's Day.  I can decide to take one day each week and visit with a friend.  I can invite people over and we can cook an international feast.  We can get together with friends to have a craft night - where everyone either works on the same craft together, or brings their own to work on while chatting.

There really are some good ideas for things to do without even thinking too hard about it.  And the reality is, now that my boys are older, I am pretty busy running them around.  So March should fly by...

I did read about a wonderful idea in a Family Circle that I picked up while waiting for my recent mammogram (have you had YOURS yet this year??).  12 women get together monthly at someone's home to visit and enjoy a meal.  At this gathering, each woman brings $20, and the host puts up $30.  The collected $250 is then anonymously donated to a family or individual in their town who has demonstrated a need.  The money is accompanied by a card that reads something like, "From friends who care".  Can you imagine how this would feel to someone who just needed a little bit extra to get by?  I imagine it might give someone that push to try again the next day to do a little better.  I like this it.  Sounds like my town could use something like this.  How about yours?