powerful poem! help me understand it.

[john engle]

hi brendan, kairi and others.

i've never opened space in a prison but i have participated in a touchstones 
discussion (http://touchstones.org) with about 25 men serving life 
sentences. the discussion centered around "power" and not surprisingly, i 
learned a great deal.

great that you are doing this! i look forward to following developments as 
you work toward opening space in prisons.

on another subject, kairi, thank you for sharing that poem in your message. 
i love it! and, i loved being at OSonOS! Judi, you and your team did a great 
job at receiving us and making us feel at home.

while i love the spirit of the poem, i just don't know what to do with 
"banish the word struggle from your vocabulary." how do others see this?

removing the word struggle from MY vocabulary seems like it could have some 
positive outcomes. at the same time, it's hard for me to think of a better 
word that describes daily life for so many people. and, not acknowledging 
this seems like i might be missing something as i work with folks in 
circumstances so much different from my own.

i'm in haiti as i write and catching up with friends and colleagues. there 
are at least hundreds of thousands of people here--some estimate in the 
millions--that don't consume a meal each day. and when they do, they don't 
know when they'll eat next. i can't begin to imagine what living with so 
much uncertainty and discomfort must be like. and i've also learned that far 
too often we who live in financially prosperous countries romance poverty, 
saying that poor people are happier.

it serves us (people who live in financially prosperous countries) well to 
see things this way and it pains me when i have US American visitors with me 
in Haiti and conclude after a week here that the people are "so happy." in 
many cultures, those in the southern countries included, it is appropriate 
to put one's best face forward especially when meeting visitors. those same 
Haitians who looked so happy to the visitor might be totally stressed out 
because they're worrying about how they're going to pay school fees for 
their kids and get a meal together, etc. when they speak in their own 
language to me, "struggle" projects from their facial expressions, body 
movement and words.

i would not feel comfortable asking folks who live such realities to remove 
"struggle" from their vocabulary.

thanks for your patience as i vent and live emotions connected to being with 
friends in extremely difficult situations.

john


http://JohnEngle.net
email: john at johnengle.net
P.O. Box 337
Hershey, Pennsylvania 17033
tel. 202-236-6532




>From: Brendan McKeague <mckeague at iprimus.com.au>
>Reply-To: OSLIST <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
>To: OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
>Subject: Re: There is a river flowing now very fast
>Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2005 08:26:54 +0800
>
>
>"Banish the word 'struggle' from your attitude and your vocabulary.
>All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration.
>aahhh....thank you so much Kairi
>
>What a moment to receive this gift - the start of a brand new 
>day...beautiful and inspiring...today I will let go a wee bit more...
>I am about to depart for  a day's 'space-making' in a maximum security 
>prison with long-term offenders..
>I will be present and holding space with individual men - my dream is that 
>one day there may be more collective open space within such confinement...
>.
>Anyone ever opened space in a prison?
>
>peace to all
>Brendan
>
>*
>*
>==========================================================
>OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
>------------------------------
>To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
>view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
>http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html
>
>To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
>http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist

_________________________________________________________________
MSN Hotmail : antivirus et antispam intégrés 
http://www.msn.fr/newhotmail/Default.asp?Ath=f

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu:
http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs:
http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist