Love is what we are born with in our hearts; fear is what we learn.
– Marianne Williamson
I was reading to a grade one class this week – Rebecca Upjohn’s Lily and the Paper Man. It’s a story of a child who, walking home from school one day with her mother, comes upon a scruffy old man selling papers on the street. Frightened, she asks to take the bus home in future. Then with the first snow, delighted Lily decides to walk home and she again spots the paper man. This time she notices bare toes through the holes in his shoe and a thin shirt through the holes in his jacket. As she lies in her warm bed that night she remembers him shivering. Lily knows what she has to do. She and dad go shopping and she uses her candy money to buy mitts; dad adds a bag full of warm clothes and then Lily gives up her beloved quilt that “grandma made me for being born”, all to keep the paper man warm.
Renee Benoit’s rich illustrations powerfully portray to young readers the joy and love shining from the paper man’s face, then reflected in Lily’s eyes when she presents the gift.
It is not a stretch for these 6 year olds to grasp the transformation in Lily from fear to compassion and love. We talked afterward about empathy – feeling the cold of the paper man; and compassion – wanting to act on it. You could have heard a pin drop in this normally lively group. They get it. They are still at an age where love can easily transcend fear. They have not yet been taught . . .
You've got to be taught to be afraid of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade. You've got to be carefully taught.
Remember the young lieutenant in 'South Pacific' singing this stinging indictment of prejudice? I will never forget it. Tales of the South Pacific was written about the climate of prejudice during WW2. What stuns me is that 70 years later much of the world is still singing the same song. But what gives me hope is the backlash against the backlash of the attack on Paris.
My friends who are on Facebook often tell me what I miss by avoiding joining, but this week it was a different story. They are eschewing FB because of the proliferation of mean spirited, nasty petitions spreading fear and hate toward our Muslim brothers and sisters.
In their ignorance, these purveyors of fear are aiding and abetting terrorist gangs just as surely as if they were shipping them arms. This is exactly what ISIS and company is counting on – dividing humanity into separate factions of fear and hatred. It is such an obvious trap that I find it hard to fathom how anyone could fall for it. But if we are trapped in fear, then it’s easy to latch onto any kind of fear mongering blown in the wind.
The more fear of ‘the Other’ we transmit, the more resentment and fear those others will have toward us, and it will build a climate of fear into our daily life. Ultra right politicians will pounce on it and begin dishing it out to the masses. The Donald Trumps and Rob Fords of the world will appeal to the basest human nature, and our world will be reduced to shivering masses of terror, living in darkness. Never allow yourself to be led there!
Remember how the horror or 9/11 was channeled into a set of wars with the Islamic nations? Rabbi Michael Lerner reminds us that those wars created the prelude to the ISIS/Islamic State. We are at another crossroads today in how we respond. Will it be with guns and fear or with generousity and love? ‘An alternative consciousness to the drumbeats of fear and revenge.’
The new consciousness must be one of generousity, embracing non-violence and truly caring for the well being of the entire planet. It is our only survival mechanism. If we wish to go on living on this beautiful Earth we must never give in to fear and short sightedness. Persian mystic /poet, Hafiz, summed it brilliantly, “Fear is the cheapest room in the house. I would like to see you living in better conditions.”
We are all in this together. Dark times are an opportunity to shine and amplify our own light. It takes a single candle to light a whole room.
When many come together for peace, as in the global climate marches this Nov. 29, it creates an energy that can change the world. Will you join us?
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/event/globalclimatemarch/Peoples_Climate_Mobilization_Toronto/
I will light my lamp, said the star, and not ask if it will expel the darkness.
I was reading to a grade one class this week – Rebecca Upjohn’s Lily and the Paper Man. It’s a story of a child who, walking home from school one day with her mother, comes upon a scruffy old man selling papers on the street. Frightened, she asks to take the bus home in future. Then with the first snow, delighted Lily decides to walk home and she again spots the paper man. This time she notices bare toes through the holes in his shoe and a thin shirt through the holes in his jacket. As she lies in her warm bed that night she remembers him shivering. Lily knows what she has to do. She and dad go shopping and she uses her candy money to buy mitts; dad adds a bag full of warm clothes and then Lily gives up her beloved quilt that “grandma made me for being born”, all to keep the paper man warm.
Renee Benoit’s rich illustrations powerfully portray to young readers the joy and love shining from the paper man’s face, then reflected in Lily’s eyes when she presents the gift.
It is not a stretch for these 6 year olds to grasp the transformation in Lily from fear to compassion and love. We talked afterward about empathy – feeling the cold of the paper man; and compassion – wanting to act on it. You could have heard a pin drop in this normally lively group. They get it. They are still at an age where love can easily transcend fear. They have not yet been taught . . .
You've got to be taught to be afraid of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade. You've got to be carefully taught.
Remember the young lieutenant in 'South Pacific' singing this stinging indictment of prejudice? I will never forget it. Tales of the South Pacific was written about the climate of prejudice during WW2. What stuns me is that 70 years later much of the world is still singing the same song. But what gives me hope is the backlash against the backlash of the attack on Paris.
My friends who are on Facebook often tell me what I miss by avoiding joining, but this week it was a different story. They are eschewing FB because of the proliferation of mean spirited, nasty petitions spreading fear and hate toward our Muslim brothers and sisters.
In their ignorance, these purveyors of fear are aiding and abetting terrorist gangs just as surely as if they were shipping them arms. This is exactly what ISIS and company is counting on – dividing humanity into separate factions of fear and hatred. It is such an obvious trap that I find it hard to fathom how anyone could fall for it. But if we are trapped in fear, then it’s easy to latch onto any kind of fear mongering blown in the wind.
The more fear of ‘the Other’ we transmit, the more resentment and fear those others will have toward us, and it will build a climate of fear into our daily life. Ultra right politicians will pounce on it and begin dishing it out to the masses. The Donald Trumps and Rob Fords of the world will appeal to the basest human nature, and our world will be reduced to shivering masses of terror, living in darkness. Never allow yourself to be led there!
Remember how the horror or 9/11 was channeled into a set of wars with the Islamic nations? Rabbi Michael Lerner reminds us that those wars created the prelude to the ISIS/Islamic State. We are at another crossroads today in how we respond. Will it be with guns and fear or with generousity and love? ‘An alternative consciousness to the drumbeats of fear and revenge.’
The new consciousness must be one of generousity, embracing non-violence and truly caring for the well being of the entire planet. It is our only survival mechanism. If we wish to go on living on this beautiful Earth we must never give in to fear and short sightedness. Persian mystic /poet, Hafiz, summed it brilliantly, “Fear is the cheapest room in the house. I would like to see you living in better conditions.”
We are all in this together. Dark times are an opportunity to shine and amplify our own light. It takes a single candle to light a whole room.
When many come together for peace, as in the global climate marches this Nov. 29, it creates an energy that can change the world. Will you join us?
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/event/globalclimatemarch/Peoples_Climate_Mobilization_Toronto/
I will light my lamp, said the star, and not ask if it will expel the darkness.
If you haven't watched this video of a Parisian father talking to his son about the attack, I highly recommend that you do https://www.facebook.com/cnn/videos/10154225169361509/
ReplyDeleteElizabeth Watson