quiltersmuse.com Blog

Yesterday, I watched the ceremonies that surrounded the creation of closure for the life of Senator Edward “Teddy” Moore Kennedy. In thinking about his life and its importance to others, the fact that he was a “Dad” stands out above others. Anyone can be a “father,” but it takes a real man, with values and substance, to be a “Dad.”

His sons, Ted Jr. and Patrick, gave speeches testifying that their father was there for them, when they were young, supporting them and teaching them life’s lessons, even when the going got rough. Ted lost a leg to cancer and Patrick had chronic asthma. Their “Dad” was there at the times that counted the most: when they were ill, struggling, or when they needed reassurance. He was there at Mission Church in Roxbury, to pray daily, when his daughter was recovering from lung cancer. She was present at the service and was looking well.

Their stories remind me of a book for children that I have always enjoyed:

Coincidentally, yesterday was August 29, the same day that my own father died, in 1974. He had been there for me, all of my life. Just like Ted Kennedy, John Edward Grace instilled in me the thought that I could do anything. A frail, undernourished and sickly child, I went on to ride horses, learn to swim and teach swimming, graduate from the university, study in Spain, and be the certified school teacher that my “Dad” always had encouraged me to be.

In a sense, watching the funeral proceedings on television yesterday was a sort of homecoming. The Catholic Mass inculcates the root values with which I was brought up. Even the lingering Irish accent on the lips of one of the priests created joy in my heart. As an extension of my own Irish heritage, the “Celebration of Life” ceremony was very much in keeping with my own thoughts about life and the hereafter.

Few people will get as much attention, in death, as “Ted,” nor the sincere good wishes of an appreciative public, all witnesses to his life. Any secrets of his misbehavior surrounding have now gone to the grave. Perhaps, this goes to prove the Senator’s thought that “Redemption” is possible, after all, and not just with God, but with the public at large. Good things were remembered and shared: how he went out of his way to help others, how he loved to sing and joke and sail, and what a loving family man he truly had become.

We, by nature, are an imperfect people. Good thing that none of us have to be perfect to be loved. Senator Kennedy was loved by many, as witnessed by yesterday’s turnout and tributes. Now, he is placed at rest, with honor. The person who attempts to fill his shoes in the Senate shall have a mighty task at hand. The sacrifices of the Kennedy family have been incalculable. On the “hill,” I suspect that it will not be “business as usual,” … for a very long time. I only wish he’d have been present to hear the accolades.

Be sure to view an extraordinary edition of “Meet the Press” in which David Gregory interview Maria Shriver and others important to Senator Kennedy. Taped on August 30, 2009.

Patricia L. Grace Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications

Today, I heard from Rachel Lehr, Director of the Rubia project in Afghanistan. Some of you may remember her name. She was the translator for an Afghan woman/ artist who visited New Hampshire a few years ago. I wrote about Hafiza Malikbaba and her embroideries (through Rubia) to raise money for cultural literacy programs for the women and children of the poorest country on earth. Here is the latest news from Rachel in Kabul.

Village of Kodikhel in Shirazad

Many of you have been following news of the earthquake in eastern Afghanistan. The recent natural disaster that occurred in Shirzad District in Nangarhar province brought human and material losses to its inhabitants. Scores of lives were lost and more than fifty persons, men, women and children, were severely injured. The people of this district are very poor with limited employment opportunities available. The damages to the property and loss of lives are of such magnitude that it will take a long time for the dwellers of the disaster hit area would be able to recover. The quake that has caused this crisis left approximately 9,523 homeless.

Here in Kabul we have been experiencing an intimate view. Many of the people we work with at WADAN have been affected directly by this disaster. WADAN, (The Welfare Association for the Development of Afghanistan), an Afghan NGO working at the grassroots level in education, civic education and drug control, has provided an umbrella of support for Rubia in Afghanistan including office, housing, transport and mentoring.

This is a chance for us to help WADAN.

The initial quake was on April 17; aftershocks and tremors have damaged villages and destroyed scores of homes. Hundreds of families now live under the sky; children are the most vulnerable. More than 2200 children have lost access to basic services and education. To avert further human crisis and properly attend to the needs of the children, there is the immediate need to provide emergency humanitarian aid to re-establish education, housing, and health services.

Village of Samarkhel WADAN staff members are from the villages of Khogiani in Shirzad District, the epicenter of the earthquake. They are the men who guard us, make our tea, and drive us safely around town. They are kind. Most of their families have been displaced- their homes have been destroyed or are too unstable to live in. The elderly, women and children are all sleeping outside in UN tents in the cold and rain. One of the Kabul staff shared his distress with us over morning tea; he is a young man responsible for providing for his family of 16 and now they don’t even have a roof over their heads. Another staffer lost 6 members of his family. The full extent of the destruction and loss of life has not been tallied. Aid agencies, including the government’s disaster management unit have started relief operations in the affected areas. It will take time for relief to get to all the victims, for all the houses to be rebuilt, for schools to start up again. Time is something they do not have; conditions are worsening by the day.

I am asking you to please make a donation to Rubia’s specially designated earthquake relief fund. Rubia is working with several other organizations to raise $20,000 by the end of May. On May 1st we received word that the Goodrich Foundation, a member of our New England- Afghanistan network, donated $5000 to WADAN for earthquake relief: www.goodrichfoundation.org .

Village of Sarkot We will continue to collect donations through June. Pass this information and link along to your friends and colleagues. If everyone we ask gives just $25 we will reach our goal in a month. If you are in Afghanistan and wish to donate, please contact Rachel Lehr, who will be at WADAN till the end of May. 0788 705 404.

The funds you donate will be used to purchase supplies for the victims to begin rebuilding their lives right away. They need building materials, household items, clothing, food and cookware. The best way for us to help is to purchase locally, in Afghanistan, the supplies they need, and sending the people we know and trust directly to the area to distribute to those in need. We know the victims, and can get them relief quickly, directly and with accountability.

To donate online, please visit: Rubia http://www.rubiahandwork.org/earthquake.html

Rachel Lehr
Executive Director
Rubia, Inc.

Rubia, Inc., PO Box 100, Warner NH 03278, 603-397-3438

The other night, I sat in amazement, watching the evening news. Seems that a teacher “had allowed” her young student to name a teddy bear, “Muhammed,” the name of the “last” prophet. On the face of it, I suppose that the action was tantamount to calling the same teddy bear, “Jesus.” Most Christians would object to that, with the reason being that the name is special and reserved for “the Holy One.”

The incident could have passed without notice, but it didn’t. Threats of violence against the teacher, Gillian Gibbons, were voiced. She will be deported from Sudan after serving jail time of fifteen days. That is a slight improvement over the 40 lashes first threatened. The sentence was meted out after Gibbons was found guilty of insulting Islam under Article 125 of a code.

To the western mind, the situation is bizarre. Perhaps the child could have been urged to chose a different name, and perhaps he could have been helped to select a more appropriate one. However, the angry faces of the irate men marching through the streets, calling for her death, and waving placards … is frightening and unbelievable.

Religion, when practiced in a fanatical sense, usually does more harm than good. Absolutism, the thought that either a person or a group of people are unequivocably right, is dangerous. The religion of Islam is one of the oldest belief systems and is worthy of respect as one of the world’s major religions. However, extremist Muslims who want to hurt other people and take over the world are only enacting a form of despotism and a form of 9-11 mentality.

We don’t have to look very far to read accounts of leaders who tried to ensure their own brand of religion. An example is the Christmas story itself, with Herod’s mandate of killing baby boys. We need not look very far, into supposedly religious lives, to find Popes who kept concubines and who could be “paid” to forgive sins or grant favors. In the workings of the Spanish Inquisition, we see “religion” at its worse, with the tortures, forced confessions, and burnings at the stake. In America, we can see some of these practices carried out against the “witches” of Salem, Massachusetts, and we acknowledge strict Puritanical thought, seated in intolerance.

The truth of the matter is that, in the long run, it matters not what a little boy calls a teddy bear. Love, understanding, forbearance: these are what matter in life. How can someone espouse to love God when he cannot and does not love his fellow man? For, we are told, we are all made in the likeness of the Creator. Anyone who would seek to BE a religious leader must first act like one, in word, thought, and deed. The old saying stands: “You can get more flies with honey than with vinegar.” So, to persuade anyone else that your particular brand of religion is best, try playing “nice.”

Patricia Cummings

Update on December 3, 2007:  The President of Sudan has granted a presidential pardon to the British school teacher and she is now back in Great Britain. She reports feeling sorry to have been asked to leave the country. We are happy to see this tense situation come to a peaceful end.

I am sitting here weeping, after just having viewed some of the photos and reports coming out of Peru. The devastation is total, and the United States, Canada, and Japan, have already stepped up to the plate to offer millions of dollars in aid.

This has been a “bad week,” on the news front. The suicide-bombers/genocide in northern Iraq, the trapped coal miners and the loss and injury of would-be rescuers, and the severe decline of the stock market – (a harbinger of another recession?)

With all of those horrible things happening, even the most avid needleworker has to sit up and take notice, and perhaps, ponder the totality of LIFE, not just our own little interests. Of course, quilting and embroidery are huge preoccupations, but as we scramble to find “just the right color,” or to sign up for “just the right class,” we all need to stop for a moment and think about what I call “The Big Picture.”

If you spend some time alone with yourself, without the intrusion of a cell phone, interruptions, and demands of other people, you will have the chance to begin to listen to your soul. You will have the opportunity to try to make sense of your time on earth, and what it means, and what might or might not be in store for you, “after.”

Now, I’m not a preacher, nor ever make the pretense of being one. However, I do have the time to be alone, quite a lot, and looking beyond the sadness of life, I have come to believe that we have to attempt to overcome and transcend all that is so consummately painful that it is unfathomable, like loss, and like death.

In Peru, hundreds of people were killed when the roof of a church fell in. Amazingly, a statue of Christ stands unscathed among the rubble, and a painting of Him is complete, in another spot. To me, a believer, this seems to be a sign. To others, it would be just a fluke of fate. Whatever you believe, no tragedy on earth will make sense to you, until you couch it within the terms of faith, whichever faith that may be.

I am frightened that something could have happened to my friend in Peru. No doubt, all the lines of communication are out, as he lives in the area that was discombobulated by the earthquake. I pray that Pedro is safe. In the meantime, tears continue to stream from my eyes, thinking of all the tiny coffins lined up, the homeless people sleeping on the street, and the dogs searching for people. The thought of all of this is overwhelming. To save my own sanity, I think I’ll go find something creative to work on.

Pat

At the present time, the Iraq problem is demanding the attention and resources of the American people and leaders. I prefer to call it a “problem,” rather than a war. Most certainly, it is the most unconventional war I have ever seen.

After September 11, 2001, the American people, still mourning the loss of many of its own citizens, were more than willing to support entry into Afghanistan to wipe out the camps that were training Jihadist terrorists. Dubbed “evil-doers,” these extremists reportedly had vowed to erase from the earth anyone who does not share their beliefs. They call us, you and I, and anyone who is not of their religious persuasion, “infidels.”

Citizens of the U.S., still feeling in danger, and threatened because of the recent heavy loss of human life, agreed, for the most part, that an invasion into Afghanistan was necessary, as was the later trek into Iraq. The allegation that weapons of mass destruction were stored in Iraq turned out to be untrue. The American public thought that the invasion seemed justified, at the time it had occurred.

While we were there, why not topple the despotic leader, Saddam Hussein? After all, he has given orders for mass killings of his fellow countrymen. We succeeded in removing him from power. He was found, cowering in an underground hole, and was tried in a court of law, and hanged.

Since that time, the picture has changed considerably. Images on the nightly news show combat troops poking their guns through holes in brick walls, and running around the streets of Baghdad. This is URBAN guerrilla warfare. It is no wonder so many of our brave soldiers are being wiped off the map. With fighting done in the streets, there are more casualties to civilian populations and soldiers alike. The occupation of “suicide bomber” seems to be a recently invented one.

Our presence in Iraq seems to have worsened sectarian violence. We seem to be making little headway in improving diplomatic relations with Iran, a key player in being able to negotiate a peaceful settlement of the war. We should pay more attention to history. Our threats to Iran have not worked in the past. Why should we expect them to succeed now? The role of “Enforcer” does facilitate long term solutions.

Our military is courageous, in the face of adversity, and soldiers are holding up their end of the bargain. However, about a dozen soldiers appeared on television recently, out of uniform, to state that they didn’t sign up for this kind of jeopardy. They are disillusioned with the mission and its unclear goals.

When I wrote to my Senator a few weeks ago, I suggested that LOGIC should be used to end the war. My letter was met with silence. It has taken years to bring troops, guns, tanks, Humvees, and supplies there, so it would be illogical to think we could pull out quickly. However, we should be scaling back, not escalating, and we should be making plans for a major withdrawal of troops, as soon as possible.

I call this “Bush’s war,” not out of a lack of respect for the man, or for the office he presently holds. Right now, he does not seem to be listening to the polls, or to the will of Americans who have stated, in no uncertain terms, that we want an end to the INSANITY that is this war.

That stance does not qualify one as being unpatriotic. It is being self-protective of our troops, who are, after all, our fellow Americans. If they see no meaning in the mission, except the risk of their own lives, this situation is just unacceptable.

The most frightening statistic (ratio) that I have heard since the war began is that for sixteen soldiers who are severely maimed or injured, there is one soldier who is killed. Back home, the wounded are facing what seem to be insurmountable problems concerning their survival and quality of life.

Peaceful solutions must be reached soon. The writing is on the wall. I just hope that politicians are smart enough to read the message.

Patricia