May 28, 2004
HOME/ WHO WE ARE/ PROJECTS/ CONTACT/ AWAKENEDWOMAN E-ZINE
May I Share My Day With You?
Women's Council holds third event to benefit Afghan Women
by Mervis Reissig
On Saturday, May 15, our Women's Council of Sonoma County held an event, "War Shock: Healing through Women's Circles." What a fabulous place -- Friends Meeting Hall in Santa Rosa -- homey, comforting and comfortable, with a lovely garden. Starting at 9:30 with coffee, we were first led into a feminine space by Leslene della Madre, and what a beautiful, female circle that was! Then Terry Garthwaite and Jacquie Godden called us into a Circle of Sacred Song, where we sang our feelings, moving through thankfulness and grief to joyfulness. We had a little trouble moving into joy -- we were feeling so much sadness for the world, and our expression of sorrow opened us up so much that the day became an outpouring of emotion…good for sharing certainly, but certainly more intense than many participants expected.
Stephanie Hiller introduced Women for a Better World, and then she talked about the Health Effects of Uranium Weapons. Personally, I've known about Depleted Uranium, but it hasn't been something I thought I should get involved in, because it's too big and too far away. Stephanie brought it home to us loud and clear. The message I got was this…you'll hear that depleted uranium is used in many ways, safely, including in golf clubs -- no big deal. But superheat it -- as in bullets and missiles &endash; and it releases its radioactivity to all those innocents around that terrorist hole, and to all those soldiers following the missiles in. Be prepared for a cancer spike, and be alert for the genocide of future generations through birth deformities.
In the afternoon, Danica Anderson talked about her experiences in Healing Trauma in Bosnia. Wow. Danica is a forensic psychotherapist in Olympia, Washington; her parents are Serbian but she was raised in the United States. She was drawn back to visit the country through an e-mail invitation from Medex Mine.Awareness. After she counseled the women there to stand up for themselves . . . and other healing measures for trauma…four were killed by their husbands. Danica's personal pain after her reconnection with the Bosnian community was a powerful message of our united suffering. When she went back again, after a long absence, an elder called her an idiot for feeling responsible for the women's deaths; she said, Did you think these women had a life before that? We should all take that to heart.
The day ended with the PeaceXPeace film, Women on the Front Lines. It's hard to watch the devastation, but uplifting to see that women's actions in Bosnia, Afghanistan, Argentina, and Burundi are making a difference.
We can make a difference too, each of us. I want to share this day with you as an event that could be a pattern for world peace.
In attendance were Jews, Muslims, Christians, pagans, even one or two atheists. All were U.S. citizens, although one was born in Bosnia, one in Afghanistan, and one in Kenya. Several of the women had been raped or sexually abused, some had ancestors who had died in concentration camps, others had loved ones who had been murdered. We ranged in age from 22 to 80.
We came together as a group on that Saturday with one intention: to create peace in the world.
Our topic was brutal: War Shock. But our message was one of hope: Healing Through Women's Circles.
We had speakers and dancing and music. Twice, we argued at length. We cried often. But at the end of the day, we put our arms around each other and roared -- really, we ROARED! Like mother lions, protecting our cubs -- born and unborn, female and male. No more killing! we roared. No more war.
It is time to let the compassion and nurturing spirits of women feel their power in the world to stop the madness, the pain, the suffering. No more, "yes, but's", no more analysis and re-analysis of fault and blame, no more philosophizing about right and wrong. We're just done with the killing of our children, all of us.
We need you . . . we need women everywhere to Just Say No to any kind of violence against women and children, because a world that is safe for women is safe for all living beings.
I have never been a feminist, in part because I have always felt that the cry of "women power" is divisive. But I understand the power of women now in a new way -- women bring new life into the world. We show compassion. We nurture and heal. Those things are our evolutionary history.
Our men need compassion and healing now. Our world needs it. We who bear life need to know that all those lives will be nurtured and cherished.
Join us. It only takes a small act of reaching out. Cross some boundary of religion or race or culture or citizenship. Know that your sister is truly your sister in her hopes and dreams for her children and grandchildren.
Drop your own small pebble in the water of life, and watch the circles widen and grow, and become peace.
As I look at Sean and Natalie, my grandchildren, I know I must keep doing this, for mothers and their sons and daughters everywhere.
***
The Women's Council event, co-sponsored by Women for a Better World, raised $200 for our friends in Afghanistan.
Special thanks to Asma Eschen, who cooked lunch for 50! A wonderful, unique Afghan lunch to add to our international unity. And to all who contributed their time and energy to participate in this event!
Mervis Reissig is a financial
consultant in Santa Rosa CA and a member of the Women's
Council