The old paradigm is dying
And the new paradigm emerges.
Those committed to the old
Hold on in fear of what is to become.
We are the doulas of the new becoming.
We must radiate the path with our brilliance.
We can no longer muzzle our truth,
Or curl in, protected by our fear.
We must remove our cloak of protection,
And put on our cape of courage,
And stand as priestess, shaman, guide
And assist in the birth
Of the New Becoming.
Kim Ebert-Colella
Feb., 2013
As I step into my day, I take this truth with me. There are so many good options in life. If I try to hold on to them all, then some will get choked off, some will get hidden, and others will become so overbearing that they will loose their vibrancy and beauty. As I create boundaries, even with those things I love, I consciously choose balance. I choose which gifts of this life I will nurture, which I will appreciate in small doses and which I will need to cut back so as to fully appreciate all the life offered me.
This is a photo of the piece of art that the Peace Club students at Bryant Montessori created for Global Art for Peace. Today it will be shipped to China as a gift to the Xiamen Haicang School. The Global Art for Peace Projects matches individuals, groups and school with others around the world to exchange art that depicts their dream of peace. Between April 23rd and April 30th, These pieces of art are sent around the world in an art exchange. All these dreams of peace circling our globe…such a beautiful image, isn’t it?
Our students send their piece with excitement. They are proud of the beautiful artwork they have created and the are inspired by the proclamation they wrote. The eagerly await the art from the Xiamen Haicang School.
The roots of the tree are made from the hand prints of 5 of the core students of the club, the fingerprints are from all the students in our middles school. The statement, written to the side of the tree was written by 5 of our middle school students. It reads:
We are Students for Peace.
We are magical.
We appreciate differences.
We honor tolerance, acceptance, intelligence and cooperation.
We do not like war.
We believe everyone deserves basic human rights.
We believe in caring.
We believe in living sustainably and respecting the earth and all its creatures.
We believe that no one should be denied the opportunity to fulfill their potential.
We are agents of Peace.
This morning my son
Crawled into my bed
Wanting to snuggle
Before we started our day.
“Put down your book, Mom,
so we can snuggle.”
“I can read and we can snuggle, too.”
I replied.
I finished the last few pages of my book.
I put it down and turned off the light
And I snuggled in.
He was right.
A true snuggle requires my full presence.
As I let go of all distractions
And relaxed into this precious moment,
I became aware of the
delicious warmth of the child
curled up next to me,
The smell of his hair,
The sound of his breath
The deep sense of peace,
comfort and joy
Of being snuggled
Together.
White wings of freedom
Beat in my chest,
Releasing the talons of
Anger, resentment and fear.
I let go of the hurt,
And give you over to God,
As I take flight on
The path of my dream.
Aye…
Aye…
Aye.
Check out this sweet video by Bryant Peace Committee students: What Peace Committee Means.
For the 2010-11 school year, the peace committee students chose Nutrition as their focus. Our goal was to explore and promote healthy nutrition in our own lives, in our school, in our community and in our world. We accomplished the following:
• Provided Leadership training to 6 middle school students,
• Enrolled 30 students in our weekly afterschool peace program
• Organized a family Harvest for Health Dance
• Collected Healthy Food for Tacoma’s Food Connection
• Designed and implemented and International Peace Day Assembly and rededicated ourselves as an International Peace Site,
• Bagged up over 2000 individual servings of a protein mix for the Food Connections Back Pack Program
• Provided an after school class on non-violent communication training to the students in the peace committee
• Produced and sold a Bryant Community Healthy Kids Cookbook
• Promoted healthy snacks in our school and at school events
• Raised over $1400.00 for Heifer Projects, enabling us to purchase a cow, a water buffalo, a pig, a goat, 2 sheep, 3 flocks of chicks, 2 flocks of geese, 2 flocks of ducks, 3 bee hives and a set of trees to help families in Africa.
• Promoted the Be the Spark: Desmond Tutu event at the Tacoma Dome, providing 66 scholarship tickets, 2 free buses, 60 t-shirts and free pizza to the 120 people from the Bryant community who participated in the event.
• Organized and Implemented an Earth Day Garden Fair and Parade of the Species in which we had 60 activity, information and vendor tables and over 1500 people attended.
• Purchased and Painted 4 more rain barrels on our school.
I am so angry.
Tears well behind my eyes.
My heart feels heavy and broken.
Why do people need to abuse their power?
Why do they need to reduce the vibrant, powerful people among them
to less than who they are?
Why do they need to humiliate, disempower and intimidate?
Don’t they know?
There is enough for all of us.
There IS enough for all of us.
Together, we grow in strength.
Everyone is enriched by respecting the gifts of others.
All of us – even those with dissenting voices – are needed
to build strong organizations, institutions, and communities.
Why must those who speak truth be silenced?
Truth is so powerful.
It can destroy the fragile illusion of control.
My heart aches for the slow road we walk towards freedom.
Kare
5/12/11
The Great Amen
Takes root in me.
Growing deep.
Shifting, changing
The landscape of my life.
As I let go of safe ground,
My insides quake.
The land beneath my feet
Rearranges itself,
Leaving me standing in
Uncharted territory.
Gingerly, I walk this new landscape,
Uncertain, uncomfortable with
the unfamiliar path ahead.
Deep and dark rumblings within me
Echo the Great Amen.
So be it.
-KARE
4/21/11
