We build Peace in our lives a moment at a time - and this is a poem story of how it can start early in childhood as it did for me.
The UnderstandingMy thoughts flew back to primary school
When I heard the news today about a woman in Iran
Who was condemned as a scapegoat for evil men.
Women in her culture are considered subhuman and
Deserving of whatever is heaped upon them.
They just have to bear the injustice and cruelty.
I remember another female who was blamed
Through no fault of her own. It was accepted.
The kids at school thought it fine to harm her.
The kids at school treated her as subhuman.
What was so horrible about her that everyone
Thought it acceptable to treat her shamefully?
She was French-Canadian.
My father was stationed in Maine during that time.
Eleanor’s father moved her often as he followed one
Engineering project to the next engineering project.
Her mother had died the year before and Eleanor,
Well, Eleanor felt lost and alone. She forgot how to smile.
Then one day Eleanor came to our school to join us.
I could tell Eleanor needed a friend so I walked up to visit.
Eleanor was surprised at the offer of kindness and friendship.
I asked why and she replied, “Because I’m French-Canadian.”
To which I answered, “So? What has that got to do with anything?”
“Do you want to play with us on the swing set or not?” She followed
And we enjoyed laughing while we pushed our swings higher.
Soon the kids began to gravitate away from our area.
It was as if we were contagious. Then a boy called to me.
He whispered in my ear, “She’s French-Canadian, you know.”
He scampered off to join the growing group away from us.
“I tried to warn you,” Eleanor said sadly. “It’s always like this.”
“Do you want me to go?” Her eyes pleaded not to send her away.
“Keep swinging,” I said. “They aren’t going to spoil our fun.”
Eleanor slowed her swing, wondering what was going to happen next.
Soon, a group of big boys bunched up together to approach us.
Eleanor wanted to run away from them. I stopped my swing and stood up.
The boys told me not to friend “the French-Canadian.” I shook my head “No.”
The boys moved closer, trying to intimidate me. I asked what was the problem.
“Because she’s a French-Canadian,” they accused like it was a dirty word.
“Let me see if I understand you correctly. You hate her because she is French and from Canada. Correct?” They nodded a “Yes.”
“Now has she ever said anything cruel to you?”
“Well, no,” said the lead boy.
“Has she ever insulted or harmed your parents or any of your friends?”
The lead boy scratched his head while his sidekicks nervously shifted their stance, “Come to think of it, no, she hasn’t harmed any of us.”
“So, what’s the problem?” I asked.
“Well, she is French-Canadian,” stated the lead boy.
“So, what you are saying is that she is of French heritage and was born in Canada. Yet she speaks English just like us. She acts like us. What’s the problem?
“Do you and your parents live at Camp Stupid or something?”
I was losing patience with them.
The big boy started to grow angry at me for calling him “stupid,” raising his fist.
Fighting ready, I was the strongest football kicker, well placed on mean boys.
Both Eleanor and the group standing behind the lead boy were growing scared.
I might have been the size of a gnat compared to the lead bully but he did not hit me.
The crowd knew I wasn’t scared of him and would stand my ground no matter what.
The crowd drew away from the boy when they realized he could not break me.
Suddenly, the boy slowly lowered his fist and a strange look came over his face.
I recognized that look and was thankful for it. It was the look of awareness.
He looked at me then at her, shook his head, mumbling about French-Canadians.
The boy turned to leave and then looked back at us, gesturing us to follow.
“Well, come on, do you two want to play with us or what?”
He saw me give him a suspicious look, not trusting his next move.
“Camp Stupid is a bad place. None of it makes any sense of why not to like her.”
Eleanor glowed with acceptance – at last. Such was my first foray into civil rights.
It was one of many firsts of negotiating with bullies, some dangerous, some not.
I stood my ground before that day and stood my ground for decades since then.
But I never forgot how good Eleanor felt that day when she learned that being
French-Canadian no longer carried a stigma for her. That day all the power was
Taken out of those two words, and now, well, they were just words.
Denny Lyon
Copyright 6 Sept 2010
All Rights Reserved
Dennys Photo Gallery: Swinging Good Fun! - Check out some wonderful photos from around the world validating how much we all have in common as children: we love to swing! (These photos are just a few of the gallery.)
Photo Credits
Blonde girl and boy swinging high photo by wsilver @ flickr
Single boy on long swing black and white photo by Divine in the Daily @ flickr
Empty swing at Navajo nation in Arizona photo by shulamit0903 @ flickr
Brunette girl posing on still swing photo by Brittany ((Halo)) @ flickr
Great fun swinging high "Weeee!" photo by annnna_ @ flickr
Balance of power of boy and girl facing off photo by Ken Wilcox @ flickr
Fighting boys photo by Aislinn Ritchie @ flickr
Mean boy with a gun photo by comenKlein, J. Scott 2 @ flickr
Child's shadow as he swings photo by miamism @ flickr
Girl in red dress swinging photo by anthrovik @ flickr
Empty swing by the tree of battle photo by Robb North (a Canadian photographer) @ flickr
*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates! *** Come by for a visit and check out my other blogs:The Social Poets - news, politics
The Soul Calendar - science, astronomy, psychology
Visual Insights - photos, art, music
Beautiful Illustrated Quotations - spiritual quotes, philosophy
Poems From A Spiritual Heart - poetry
The Healing Waters - health news
Dennys People Watching - people in the news
Dennys Food and RecipesDennys Funny Quotes - humor
From Denny: The President continues to take criticism for doing the right thing - trying to broker a Middle East Peace solution of some kind between Israel and Palestine. You just can't ignore this Middle Eastern tinderbox like George Bush did. It's important to do something, no matter how small to advance a temporary solution. A little progress is preferable to full scale war and bloodshed. It's amazing how the Republicans - who fancy themselves as such great foreign policy advisers - have fallen down on the job with this thorny issue. All they do is harp against the President and step on his face as he tries to do some serious diplomatic work. But that's the point, now isn't it? The Republicans are so crazed to get back in power they don't care how they risk the lives of Americans traveling overseas or the American troops in the Middle East. Selfish is as selfish does when it comes to winner take all politics.So, the Republicans - and their propaganda arm Fox News - took another tack and decided to stir up the Religious Right like the no name Florida pastor who thought he was tough on Islamic terrorists by announcing he was going to burn 200 Koran books. What an idiot. His church bears the emblem of the Holy Spirit and the Peace Dove and yet this guy is out there promoting violence, in complete disobedience and rebellion against the teachings of the very Jesus Christ he claims to follow. What a fool. Meanwhile, the troops overseas are horrified at what he has done. It took the Secretary of Defense Gates to call a Florida imam to help lower the political and religious temperature with this crazed excuse for a Christian pastor. Hundreds of Christians pastors called this guy to ask him to stand down and he refused. It took the local fire ordinances and federal hate crime laws to shut down the stupidity - or that's how it appears on the surface.The reality of how these situations play out is that the FBI receives credible evidence of real death threats against this pastor and his family - if he still carries out his threat to burn the Korans. My guess is that the FBI did receive numerous letters detailing where the pastor, his family and closest friends and church members live, their full names and addresses and the like. Detailed information like that cannot be denied.This pastor didn't care how many other people he put at risk for getting killed until it came home to roost up close and personal. My guess is the wife and family told him to back off this lunatic Koran burning party or they were going to be the ones killing him. It's real easy to threaten to harm others - until the backlash of bad karma comes back to threaten a new reality. What a way to honor the nine year anniversary of 9/11...Obama and Middle East Peace initiative:
Iraq War:
Phony Christian pastor threatening to burn the Muslim Holy Book the Koran:
*** THANKS for visiting, feel welcome to drop a comment or opinion, enjoy bookmarking this post on your favorite social site, a big shout out to awesome current subscribers – and if you are new to this blog, please subscribe in a reader or by email updates! *** Come by for a visit and check out my other blogs:The Social Poets - news, politicsThe Soul Calendar - science, astronomy, psychologyVisual Insights - photos, art, musicBeautiful Illustrated Quotations - spiritual quotes, philosophyPoems From A Spiritual Heart - poetryThe Healing Waters - health newsDennys People Watching - people in the newsDennys Food and RecipesDennys Funny Quotes - humor
