for katherine.

lapli.

cange, haiti.

12 May 2009.

zeus was mad.

moonburn.

cange, haiti.

12 May 2009

Two nights ago, we sat on the edge of the balcony here in Cange and watched the tropical storm moving across the horizon right behind our mountains. Shooting stars streaked across the sky of the humid night, and lightning did muted battle with the clouds. And we sat in stunned silence as bolt after bolt lit up the towering clouds in a furious array of silent fireworks, from which we were distracted only as the meteors fell to earth in competition for our attention.

And thankfully, for once in my life, I listened. Pradip held out his beer can and said, 

"Will, it's a bit like this beer can. If you pour it all out, the can will be empty before you're ready. And if you hold on to it too tightly, you will crush it, and it will all spill out anyway. But if you just hold it lightly and steadily, like this, you will have it when you need it, and you can take from it when you will. So you just have to sometimes let it go, and set it down, like this..." 

He was talking about my time in Africa last year. And how sometimes it hurts the people I love most when I hold on to it too tightly, afraid to let it go, and eager to revisit it constantly. Both done because during that time, life felt meaningful. Like I had purpose and fulfillment and passion and love, all at the same time. 

Wise, wise words. Letting go has always been the hardest thing for me, and it keeps coming up. But now right now today here this moment.is.beautiful. And to continue Pradip's metaphor, when you're holding on to the beer can too tightly in the one hand (even the Prestige), it's easy to miss the Rhum Barbancourt in the other. Since I go to Sewanee, I'm sure it'll be hard to live that one down. Chuckle. 

After he said that, he silently stood up and went to bed, and I sat, still watching zeus' fury behind the mountains...sitting praying thinking. about letting go. So Kenya, Congo, Bunyonyi, I'll be back soon. But right now, I'm here with you, Haiti. 

And next week, LA, here I come. 

keep blowing the whistles.

for peace.will.

"Our contemplation is our life. It is not a matter of doing but being. [...] We shall not waste our time in looking for extraordinary experiences in our life of contemplation but live by pure faith, ever watchful, [...] doing our day-to-day duties with extraordinary love and devotion."

-Mother Teresa

falling.whistles.discover.the.journey.

So there's this war that most of us haven't heard about. It's pretty complex, and with it's different parts, has become the world's most deadly and longest running war. In the last eight years, at least 5.4 million people have died, a death toll not unlike that of the holocaust. 70% of the world's rapes are in this region and are a product of the instability and destruction from this war. Thousands of children have been abducted and conscripted into the rebel armies to fight in the war, children mainly between the ages of 5 and 15. 

Because of these horrors and atrocities, people are starting to wake up, and we're beginning to find out and see images and video of what's going on, here in living rooms, and on our computer screens. But the choice is ours as to whether we too will wake up and realize that there are things that are wrong in this world, and that we DO have the power to do something about them. 

Falling Whistles is an organization based in Los Angeles that is trying to expose the story of this war and someday bring an end to it. They're passionate, brilliant, and creative in the ways they're tirelessly working to combat this war and bring peace to Congo. Read the story, and their blog, at http://www.fallingwhistles.com. They've chosen the image of the whistle (you'll read about the origins of that in the story on their website) as a symbol of blowing the whistle for change. Become a whistleblower and buy a whistle. Raise awareness and blow the whistle for change. 

Discover the journey is another initiative trying to bring peace to Congo. They've got this beautiful vision of peace and they're selling sets of t-shirts. One for you to wear to raise awareness and bring a message of peace, and the other for a former child soldier in Congo to wear to be a messenger of peace in Congo. Watch the video at:http://www.discoverthejourney.org/paix/paixstore. Buy a shirt. 

Now you know. And now it's your turn to respond, which takes some effort and some work. Read the Falling Whistles story. Watch the Discovery the Journey video. It's important that you do. There's this quote from this man on the streets in Haiti that has come to define who I am: 

"If you came to help me, you are wasting your time, but if you came because you understand your liberation to be bound with mine, then let us walk together."

Read the story

and 

Watch the video

because our liberation as people in this world is bound together. 

Become a whistleblower for peace.

Love wins.

the power of one.

"The music of Africa is too wild, too free, too accustomed to death for romance. Africa is too crude a stage for the small scratching of the violin, too majestic for the piano. Africa is only right for drums. The drum carries its rhythm but does not steal its music. Timpani is the background, the music of Africa is in the voices of the people. They are its instruments, more subtle, more beautiful, infinitely more noble than the scratching, thumping, banging, and blowing of brass and vellum, strings and keyboard."

i shall be reading that book soon.