Seeds of Peace: Writings for Peaceful Living and Community Healing

SEEDS OF PEACE Writings of peaceful living for sharing with all. Written & Shared by....alycia longriver davis Member of: WILPF (Women’s International League of Peace & Freedom) (Cape Cod Branch) Seeds of Peace 01 - Greetings 21 - Fairness 02 - Seed Growth 22 - Cooperation 03 - Hope 23 - Dodge City 04 - Peace 24 - Life 05 - Diverse Unity 25 - Race 06 - Trail of a Human Being 26 - Racial Healing 07 - Forgiveness 27 - Peaceful Ways 08 - Bridges 28 - Seeing the Light 09 - Alternatives 29 - Simple Living 10 - Living Reality 30 - M L King 11 - Thank You 31 - We Must Overcome 12 - Anger 32 - 10 Years Old 13 - Balance 33 - Songs 14 - Songs of War 34 - Human Spirit 15 - Colors 35 - Prayer of Spirit 16 - Back of the Cupboard 36 - Universal Thought 17 - Change 37 - Web of Life 18 - Fear 38 - Two Dogs 19 - Gone 39 - What Can I Do 20 - Circles 40 - What to Do Seeds of Peace – cont’d. 41 - Why It Is 42 - People Power 43 - Tending Gardens 44 - Three Crows Walking 45 - Planting Seeds 46 - Transformation 47 - Spirituality 48 - Earth Church 49 - Values 50 - Sharing 51 - Yards 52 - Active Peace 53 - Different Values 54 - Sarafina 55 - It Is Time 56 - Path of Peace 57 - Final Seeds FREE TO USE, COPY, SHARE HOWEVER YOU WANT. GOOD AS A TEACHING TOOL, FOR TALK GROUPS, OR AS INSPIRATION ‘FOR SUNDAY SERVICES’. HELP THE SEEDS SPREAD AND GROW. Seeds of Peace 01-Greetings These writings shared of thoughts, feelings and stories are born from a womb of internal guidance and experiences from paths travelled, as a simple, imperfect human. The themes center around people respect, earth respect, peaceful growth, potential evolvement and possible choices. There is no intent of harm or disrespect. Please forgive any misunderstanding of intent. Change can only come from our personal choice to do so. We each have our own path to follow and hear our own song in the winds. My earth journey has been to plant seeds through writing, journeys and in circle gatherings. Seeds are sown. Something may sprout or may not. In Native American tradition and similar in other cultures, 5 seeds may be planted. Two may be eaten by birds or small animals. Two may be lost to weather. With care, fortune and blessing, one may grow into a healthy plant bringing new gifts to earth. If we replace status quo micro-view limitations we have been taught, with open thoughts of our incredible potential and possibilities of a world family of people and earth, we have boundless potential. Hopefully, we can share our individual and collective dream process, discovering creative new thought and paths to a giving, fair, peaceful, inclusive circle of all...one people, one earth. It might work best to read, think about, feel about 1-2 of the ‘seeds’ at a time. They could be used in group sharings or as a teaching tool. They could also serve as an inspirational basis for talks or sermons. The messages are freely shared. If something feels connective or special: print it; copy it; email it; web it; share it by social media or whatever means you wish. We must reach out and reach wide, expanding the circle of people actively embracing the sharing and energy of a peaceful coexistence and a healthy earth. Whatever our collective prevailing energy is, is what the world is at that time (love, fear, peace, violence, equality, exclusion, etc.). Help it be with the positive energies. I am with Stage IV cancer, writing and sharing peace seeds that hopefully find fertile ground. These are likely my last writings. Please feel free to share with others. Let us open our hearts to fulfill our amazing potential. alycia (longriver) davis, 2019 alyoops@comcast.net Seeds of Peace 02- Seed Growth The following shows how seeds planted can grow and spread. In 1995, i was part of a Native guided cross-country walk for the earth and people. It was an amazing journey camping and walking over 5 million steps from Cape Cod (MA) to Hopi-land (AZ). I made up the following prayer to say to myself while walking many miles each day: Creator, open our hearts to peace and healing between all people. open our hearts to provide and protect for all children of the earth. open our hearts to respect for the earth and all the gifts of earth. open our hearts to end exclusion, violence, and fear among all. Thank-you for the gifts of this day and every day. We all have these gifts within. It is opening our hearts fully to them. After the walk, i posted the prayer on the ‘new internet’ in 1996. Except for a couple of early inquiries asking to use it, and not having computer access for some years, it was just out there. In late 2017, someone tracked me down to use. Doing a browser search, i found it has been used continuously for over 20+ years, by various circles, a State legislature, a reggae newsletter, church groups, addiction groups, cancer groups, Native groups, immigration groups, craft/art projects on Pinterest, and many others in the U.S. and around the world. In October 2017, it was used to open a large conference in Vegas a few days after the horrible mass shooting there. In 2018, it was made into a beautiful short choral anthem for choirs by Augsburg Fortress Publishing, with composer Andrew Birling. The prayer has found its way to all these people, groups and places for many years and is still growing and spreading. It shows we should not get discouraged. If we give sincere efforts, don’t worry. The seeds we plant are doing good even if we do not know

others in the U.S. and around the world. In October 2017, it was used to open a large conference in Vegas a few days after the horrible mass shooting there. In 2018, it was made into a beautiful short choral anthem for choirs by Augsburg Fortress Publishing, with composer Andrew Birling. The prayer has found its way to all these people, groups and places for many years and is still growing and spreading. It shows we should not get discouraged. If we give sincere efforts, don’t worry. The seeds we plant are doing good even if we do not know it right away or never find out about it. Know you are not alone. There are many working for peace. Believe in your efforts. I believe in them and you. Seeds of Peace 03 – Hope Hope is our lifeblood, the core of our survival, the seed of dreams and the energy of change. We are gifted with hope to find our spiritual connection in the sacred hoop of all life. All are invited. The door of the circle is open to enter---white, black, yellow, red, brown, young, old, rich, poor, straight, lgbtq, city, country, abused, abuser, oppressed, oppressor. I once saw a wild hawk and a domestic kitten sitting on a fence rail together on the Seneca Reservation in Western New York. The hawk was being released after being injured. It showed how all can peacefully coexist. We can mend the hoop, that has been injured in many ways, creating a new hoop, a circle of all people, with respect for all of and upon earth. Mother Earth is giving strong warnings through larger floods, quakes, droughts, fires, tornadoes, hurricanes and other events, warning of the damage we’ve done to the earth and ourselves. It is not mystical. The earth is ill from our poisons. When we are ill, we expel the virus in nasty ways. Earth is doing the same. We have drilled into her core and stripped away protective soil, trees and other foliage. We have seriously polluted her air, soil and water that sustains all life. One who has excluded from ill-taught prejudicial fears can be open to inclusion for all. One who has been excluded can open to forgiveness. One of greed can open to sharing. One of poverty can open to having need fulfilled without greed. All the paths to the sacred hoop are open. There is hope each will choose to follow the path into the circle of all. Hope is present. Hope is here. Its dreams can only awaken by willing choice. Each of us has choice to open or close our hearts to the family of all. No matter where we stand, there are four primary directions to choose. We each have responsibility of which path we choose. Keep the HOPE. Fan the flame of HOPE from its embers to become a bright light of energy. Follow the path to its center. Awaken the HOPE to become reality. Share and others learn sharing. Care and others learn caring. Be peaceful and others learn peace. Be compassionate and others learn compassion. Be inclusive and others learn to include. Be loving and others learn to love. Seeds of Peace 04 – Peace Hear the cry of the earth and its people. There are peacemakers of all different colors, cultures, ages, and religions here now. More are being awakened. Whether from Indigenous spirituality, Judeo-Christian, Far Eastern, Muslim, agnostic yearning, peace-social justice-environmental-human rights activists, all are here, working and waiting for our potential and evolvement to be fulfilled. The time is upon us. We choose peace or not every hour of every day. The road to real peace has much challenge and sacrifice but is not the road of stress, fear, violence and evil we live with equally difficult? “It isn’t enough to desire peace. We must pray for it, believe in it and work for it.” Eleanor Roosevelt Peace is not an absence of war, nor time between wars. It is its own energy, an active state of being, a way of living. Peace has no anger, nor judgment, grudges, exclusions, prejudices, separation, greed nor fear. Peace is the unconditional acceptance and inclusion of all people sharing the unique gifts we each bring to the circle of people. Peace is what we think of, say about and do for or to each other every day. It is global peace, national peace, community peace, household peace and peace within each person. Peace is absent of physical violence, economic violence, social violence, verbal violence and environmental violence. Peace is active with positive actions. We do not embrace peace if we hold anger at ex-spouses, parents, children, neighbors, co-workers or others in our personal circles. We fully embrace peace, or we do not. It is a vital understanding for each word, thought or deed of anger we hold or expose becomes part of the world’s collective energy. We each choose. We each have an involvement. Even sitting on the sidelines is still a choice of continuing where we are. True peace is not impossible by any means. Peace sits within us and all around us, waiting for us to embrace it and manifest fully through our collective energies. Be the peace. Share the peace. If you wish peace in the world, be peaceful, fully and unconditionally. Seeds of Peace 05 – Diverse Unity One day, Clarinets were squealing. Trumpets were blaring. Drums were booming. Flutes were shrilling. Cellos were sawing. Violins were screeching. Cymbals were clanging. Trombones were loudly yawning, and tubas were oom-pah-pahing at everyone. The noise was just awful, like fingernails on a chalkboard. It hurt everyone’s ears. Piano couldn’t stand it any longer, and so Piano wrote a composition with a part for each of to play. All decided to try it, except Violin. It was beautiful, becoming a wonderful rhythm and blend of different sounds with one harmonic voice. Piano asked Violin why she didn’t want to join in? She said, “I’m Violin,

squealing. Trumpets were blaring. Drums were booming. Flutes were shrilling. Cellos were sawing. Violins were screeching. Cymbals were clanging. Trombones were loudly yawning, and tubas were oom-pah-pahing at everyone. The noise was just awful, like fingernails on a chalkboard. It hurt everyone’s ears. Piano couldn’t stand it any longer, and so Piano wrote a composition with a part for each of to play. All decided to try it, except Violin. It was beautiful, becoming a wonderful rhythm and blend of different sounds with one harmonic voice. Piano asked Violin why she didn’t want to join in? She said, “I’m Violin, and don’t want to be something different.” Piano replied, “My dear friend, if you join the orchestra you are still Violin, sounding like Violin, and playing the part of Violin, in harmony with those around you.” Cooperation versus Chaos We don’t lose our individual identity by being part of the whole. It is the mosaic blending of our identities that creates a beautiful symphony versus noisy clatter. When John Lennon’s Imagine came out it was deeply misunderstood. People could not “imagine no countries and no religion too.” He was writing and singing to the being of oneness, of removing barriers. Economics, politics, commerce, ecology, all are interwoven globally. For some it is scary, of losing identity, but it is not so. We are one people, sharing one home of earth, to be a harmonic orchestra. There is a beautiful, universal composition written for all the world to play, each a part, but blended together. It is up to each of us to be part of it, as a symphonic orchestra, or continue creating chaotic noise in our segregated corners. We need not fear losing ourselves in global cooperation, for it is an enhancement of ourselves. We each choose if our homes, communities, country and world will be harmonic or chaotic. Embrace ‘diverse unity’. As each person becomes peaceful, the world becomes more peaceful. Seeds of Peace 06 – Trail of a Human Being Walking across the country, there were many lessons.... >Walking carelessly stepping on an insect or seeing ‘road-kill’ animals struck by cars, there was the realization of harming living creatures, even if we do not mean to, who have a right and purpose to be here, as we each do. Regret and offering is made for the unintentional losses we create in life. >Walking clumsily, tripping over my feet, falling, getting hurt but getting up again, as we all must get up when we trip, or are tripped and fall. Bruises will heal. We cannot let physical or psyche bruises and hurts stop our human progress. >Walking long miles, knees hurting, muscles tiring, but go on, as we all face pains and difficulties and must go on. The call to go on gets us past the pain & difficulty. >Walking with a ‘sunshine smile’, singing, dancing along, bringing an energy of life, of joy within that we must all reach within for and share with the world. >Walking wet in the rain, knowing the sun will always return, bringing warmth and light. All is a cycle; all is a circle. Day becomes night; winter becomes summer; young becomes old; ill becomes healthy; the circles of life go on. >Walking hungry or thirsty, but knowing i’d survive and find provision, realizing millions through the world suffer immense, on-going daily thirst and hunger without finding provision. Not having is nothing for a path chosen, but everything for a life denied, an invisible statistic of tragedy and suffering ignored by others. We are all part of the earth walk. We all walk together, in laughter, tears, fears, harmony, discord, scarcity, abundance. We are each part of the whole. Walk for the opening of hearts to peace and healing for all people, for all children, for all of the earth. Follow the trail of a true human being. Seeds of Peace 07 – Forgiveness Earth healing and people healing are interwoven. One cannot happen without the other. We may carry hurts from past or current relationships, or harbor grudges centuries old from hurts to our ancestors. Hurt has rained on many people. There are few people, if any, untouched from hurt in one form or another. We must release our hurts. There is no need to forgive. To forgive means we hold a judgment against someone. Forgiveness is not a virtue. It is an issue of control, ego and pride. It is holding, ‘Forgiveness’ over someone like a club. It is destructive. It usually harms the one withholding forgiveness more than the party of perceived offense. It also harms those in the circles of both parties. Most negatives by others towards us are from lack of knowledge, misdirected fears, mis- intention, misinformation, misunderstanding, or just ‘someone having a bad day’. It is understanding we are each doing the best we can at that moment. It is not to be angry at these instances, but to understand their source. Their action may hurt us. Process the hurt and release it, quickly. Do not let it transform into anger and long- term, harmful forgiveness control. Let it go. There is no more time waiting for millions of people to forgive millions of others. We are faced with critical challenges to undertake together. We need to let go of past negatives, personal and old national-racial-religious grudges. The earth needs healing. We need healing. We must release the hurts to open our hearts to new beginnings, by all - for all, and especially for the children of today and tomorrow. When the Iroquois League of Nations was formed (est. 1450 AD), Deganawida the Great Peacemaker and Ayonotha cautioned, “The council chiefs must have seven layers of skin, so as not to be offended by remarks of others. Grudges of the past must be left behind, or they will continue to be the wars of today and tomorrow.” The emotional pain we suffer is the pain we hang onto. Seeds of Peace 08 – Bridges There are