"Waging Peace" #13

Featuring Gloria Heffernan, Double Take, and Harlem Boys' Choir

Welcome to “Waging Peace”

Remember, you’re the co-creator of this dive. Do as much or as little as you’d like, when you’d like, how you’d like, with the materials I provide. Just keep gentle faith with yourself.

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Set your intention

Take a moment to name the primary intention you have for this month-long deep dive and/or this particular session. Take a quiet moment to center yourself in that intention.

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Receive the music

Try to refrain from judging the music as “good” or “bad” or forming an “I like it” or “I don’t like it” opinion. For a few minutes, cultivate curiosity and openness. If resistance arises in you, be curious about that too.

BONUS: You may also wish to listen to the Harlem Boys’ Choir singing the traditional “Let There Be Peace on Earth,” referenced in the poem.

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Read the poem

I invite you to read this poem twice—aloud, at least once. You may also listen to the poet’s reading of the poem, perhaps with your eyes closed.

LET IT BEGIN WITH ME
Gloria Heffernan
 
My third grade teacher filled the chalkboard 
with the words we would sing at the school assembly: 
               Let there be peace on earth 
               And let it begin with me.  

Even at eight years old, I knew this was a tall order.  
Vietnam was ravaging young men who were still boys,  
like my cousin Jimmy whose letters came scrawled  
in an 18-year old’s hurried hand bearing nightmares  
of war and dreams of homecoming. 
 
And now, in the rubble of Lviv and Mariopul,  
the innocent huddle in basements  
while bombs shriek overhead. 
 
Now on the streets of Poland, 
refugees seek asylum in a land not their own. 
Now 10,000 miles away, I ask myself,  
Will peace ever begin . . . with anyone? 
 
Then, like the butterfly that lights on a wave 
and changes the course of the ocean, 
I do what I can, when I can, where I can. 
 
I make soup for my homebound neighbor. 
I turn off the news and pick up a poem.  
I tell someone I love them. I smile at a stranger.  
 
I pray for those in harm’s way . . . and I hope.  
I cannot end a war . . . but I can let peace begin,  
again and again, and again, and again, 
with me. 
 

(text directly offered by the poet)

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Contemplate/Create

Use any of these questions however you wish—e.g., as openings for meditation or prayer, as prompts for journaling or poetry-writing, as sparks for drawing or painting, as catalysts for change-making . . . You may also ignore my questions altogether to go off in other directions!

• Reflect/write/create in response to this stem: “I do what I can, when I can, where I can.” Explore ways that you can wage peace.

• The poet contrasts a child’s vision of waging peace with an adult’s. Reflect/write/create regarding how your own vision of waging peace has changed over time.

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Want to visit with other Rafters in the Deep Dive?

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These materials are for educational purposes only. Not for sale or reproduction.

Join me and a SPECIAL MYSTERY GUEST
for a closing Zoom on February 1!

6:00-7:00PM Central (7:00 ET, 5:00 MT, 4:00 PT)

Let’s close “Waging Peace” with a time of voluntary sharing. (It’s fine just to listen!) Come and reflect with other Rafters on this Deep Dive.

Registration is required for this celebration.

(Note: Minimum of five people must have registered for the Refuge by midnight, January 31, in order for this Zoom to take place. Thanks!)

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Questions? Never hesitate to contact me.

See you tomorrow.