Dona Nobis Pacem

This year, Mimi challenges us to "Speak Love." To embrace and enhance and nurture love with "your families, yourselves, your communities, OUR WORLD."

So I'm taking this opportunity to give a shout out to Letters Against Isolation. This organization is all about the positive power of the handwritten word and how it can help alleviate loneliness. Every week I create little cards that will be tucked into a Meals on Wheels delivery or handed to a resident in a senior facility. I am sending a handwritten connection to a lonely person. 

Loneliness is a thief. According to the Cleveland Clinic, it can rob you of your health – increasing your risk of cardiovascular disease and high blood pressure. According to Mental Health America, it can rob you of your happiness – often sparking anxiety, depression and substance abuse.

So I'm using the written word to Speak Love. LAI is not a pen pal program. I'm corresponding with people who will never know my full name or address. It's just a simple moment we share, beginning with me at my dining room table writing and culminating with an isolated senior opening and reading my card, hopefully when they need to know they are not forgotten.

 
Find other peace bloggers here.

 

Get Ready!

On November 4, I'm joining in Mimi's Blogblast for Peace. Why don't you do the same? It would be lovely if we filled the blogosphere with peace signs and gentle good wishes for a better future.

Dona Nobis Pacem

 

Why are we so quick to demonize those who don't look like us or share our same life experiences? Thanks to Governor Abbott of Texas, my neighborhood up here in Chicagoland received a sudden, unexpected influx of migrants.

Instead of resenting them for panhandling, for cluttering our sidewalks, for using tax-payer dollars and community resources, let's consider what it's like for them.

•  Fleeing poverty and oppression with just the belongings they can carry.

•  Headed for Texas, where at least the climate is familiar, but ending up in the chilly midwest.

•  Unable to understand much of what is said around them as bureaucrats decide their fate.

•  Not allowed work permits for weeks, so they can't support themselves or their families.

What would happen if, instead of ignoring or glaring, we smiled at them? Treated them like neighbors instead of intruders. Gave them a dollar or at least a kind word. Made eye contact and connected through our common humanity, rather than assume they are here to "poison the blood" of our country.

Tensions would decrease and serenity increase. The world would be safer and more welcoming.

PEACE.

 
Find other peace bloggers here.

Get ready

On November 4, I'm joining in Mimi's Blogblast for Peace. Why don't you do the same? It would be lovely if we filled the blogosphere with peace signs and gentle good wishes for a better future.

Dona Nobis Pacem

 

I am a peace blogger, inspired by the struggle we see day in and day out. In Ukraine, in Israel, in Gaza. In our cities and our small towns. On the steps of the courthouse in New York. It seems that our sense of peace, decency, and fair play is under assault every day from all angles.

All we can do is keep on keeping on.

Find other peace bloggers here.

Get Ready!

On November 4, I'm joining in Mimi's Blogblast for Peace. Why don't you do the same? It would be lovely if we filled the blogosphere with peace signs and gentle good wishes for a better future.

It began with Mimi

I've been very lucky with this blog. In the 17 years that I've been chronicling and sharing my life, I've met some really terrific people. Bloggers who lift me when I'm down, who have expanded my world view, who have recommended books. I am very frank here, and I feel like my readers know me better than many people I encounter in real life, where I pull my punches and worry more about appearances.  

One of my first blog buddies was royalty: Queen Mimi of Bloggingham. She's warm and funny and real. An advocate for peace and the founder of Blog4Peace, because words matter. She began reading my posts early on, which means she's had a front row seat for my evolution. Her respect and affection matter to me.

Which is why I was delighted to return from a getaway to Tampa and find a big box of goodies from Bloggingham waiting for me! Chocolates and peeps. Scented, girly stuff. A handwritten note from the monarch herself. Plus a pitcher from Italy and a liberty blue plate.

Beautiful. Thoughtful. Perfect.

I had purchased postcards in Tampa to send to friends but had misaddressed one before I could write the message. I was going to throw it out but didn't. (Snarkypants would say I was responding to a "ping" from the universe.)  It turned out to be a nice, colorful vehicle for a thank you note, sent from my humble Chicagoland home to the Castle.

As does this. Thank you, Mimi.

Dona Nobis Pacem

I am a peace blogger, inspired by the struggle in Ukraine. I'm keeping it short and sweet this year. The words of our own peace-loving wartime President from 1861 surely reflect the heart of President Zelensky in 2022:

“The struggle of today, is not altogether for today – it is for a vast future also.”

Find other peace bloggers here.

Get Ready!

On November 4, I'm joining in Mimi's Blogblast for Peace. Why don't you do the same? It would be lovely if we filled the blogosphere with peace signs and gentle good wishes for a better future.

Dona nobis pacem

 

Click here to join Mimi

 

If you have a heart, you are inspired and moved by the valiant struggle in Ukraine. When I watch the news coverage and feel helpless, I'm reminded of that famous Mr. Rogers quote: "When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.'" And I am inspired to help the helpers.

Here are a couple ways you can help the helpers, and in the process help bring peace to the lives of the Ukrainians. You may find that pitching in will soothe your soul, too. 

Doctors without Borders

UNICEF

Humane Society International 

PS I did my homework, and these organizations have earned "Give with Confidence" from Charity Navigator.

 

Because words matter

Please join Mimi Lenox for a special Blog4Peace event this weekend. Let's fill the internet with love, support for Ukraine, and prayers for peace.

Dona Nobis Pacem

I am a peace blogger. Here's why.

I live in a city that awash in illegal guns and blood. I'm scared, angry and oh-so tired. 

Let's look at one weekend in Chicago. One very average weekend. No major events, like a street fair or a concert. The weather wasn't hot, so we can't say our neighbors were "crazy from the heat." 

Between Friday and Monday, 44 people here were shot. To put this in perspective for you, 33 were shot in Columbine. We have a Columbine here, every weekend. 

Here are the dead:

•  On Friday, a 32-year-old man was DOA at Stroger Hospital. Shot in the chest.

•  On Saturday, a 45-year-old man was shot in the torso on the sidewalk near his home. He died hours later  at Mount Sinai Hospital.

•  No rest on Sabbath. On Sunday, a 30-year-old man was found unresponsive in an alley. He'd been shot in his arms and stomach. He was pronounced dead at University of Chicago Medical Center.

Here's a geographic representation of the total carnage. The placemarks in green had more than victim.

We can do better. We must do better. 

•  We need federal gun laws to help stem the flow of illegal guns from neighboring states. 

•  We must help police and banish the "snitches get stitches" mentality. 

•  Let's abandon the Second Amendment paranoia. Gun owners survived 8 years of a Clinton Presidency and still possessed their firearms. Obama didn't take them away, either, now did he? Neither will Biden. Replace the panic with commonsense solutions.

Bring peace to our streets!

LEARN MORE ABOUT BLOGGING FOR PEACE HERE.

We're a community of writers who believe words matter.

Get ready!

On November 4, I'm joining in Mimi's Blogblast for Peace. Why don't you do the same? It would be lovely if we filled the blogosphere with peace signs and gentle good wishes for a better future.

Dona Nobis Pacem

After enduring four years of a President exploiting our differences, I'm honoring the eloquence of a leader who reminded us of what we share.

"Our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this same planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal." 

John F. Kennedy, Commencement Speech at American University, June 10, 1963

 

"Let us not be petty when our cause is so great. Let us not quarrel amongst ourselves when our Nation's future is at stake. Let us stand together with renewed confidence in our cause – united in our heritage of the past and our hopes for the future – and determined that this land we love shall lead all mankind into new frontiers of peace and abundance."  

John F. Kennedy,undelivered speech, scheduled for the Dallas Trade Mart, November 22, 1963

 

LEARN MORE ABOUT BLOGGING FOR PEACE HERE.

We're a community of writers who believe words matter.

 

 

Use your voice!

On November 4, I'm joining in Mimi's Blogblast for Peace. Why don't you do the same? It would be lovely if we filled the blogosphere with peace signs. During this contentious election season, it's more important than ever to use our blogs to overcome the ugly, angry, conspiratorial voices with calls for peace and truth.

Dona Nobis Pacem

Every year, November 4 is the day we blog for peace. This year's special theme: Change Your Climate.

Today we're all so overwhelmed by life, so bombarded by media and messages, that it's easy to allow ourselves to get overheated. To boil over with confusion and fear and worry. When the mercury rises, we get distracted, and our loftier goals can be washed away like a message in the sand.

So today, change your personal climate. Turn down the heat that's firing your resentments. Assume good intentions and respond in kind.

Let's manifest peace beginning with one another. Let's unmake violence and destruction, one heart at a time, starting with our own.

And we must keep at it. Otherwise, just as our coastlines erode, so can any progress we've made toward peace. As an American President said in September 1963, at the height of the Cold War:

LEARN MORE ABOUT BLOGGING FOR PEACE HERE.

We're a community of writers who believe words matter.

Dona Nobis Pacem

Every year, November 4 is the day we blog for peace. This year, November 6 is Election Day. In my blog blast post, I'm marrying the two.

Think peace when you vote. When you have a choice, support the candidate who seeks to build bridges, not walls. Cast your ballot for the candidate who will bring us closer to commonsense background checks and a ban on assault weapons.

Remember the words of Notre Dame's Rev. Theordore Hesburgh: "Voting is a sacred sacrament." Make your vote a vote for peace on Tuesday!

 Go here to find out more about Blog4Peace.

I'll be posting a new peace globe soon

You can, too!

Founder Mimi Lenox describes the BlogBlast for Peace as event that encompasses, "70 million blogs. 70 million possibilities."

Mimi believes that it isn't enough for us to "unmake war, we have to remake peace." We bloggers are working toward this worthy goal by creating peace globes and posting them on our sites on November 4, 2018.

To learn more, and maybe participate yourself, click here.  And be sure to google Dona Nobis Pacem on November 4 so you can check out all the inspiring and imaginative globes ... from all over the globe.

Dona Nobis Pacem

I live in a city awash in guns. Over 100 people were shot over the four-day July 4 holiday here in Chicago. 12 of those citizens died. Just another hot summer weekend in the Windy City.

It makes me sad. It makes me angry. Worst of all, it leaves me numb. I'm so inured to violence that when I heard about the San Bernadino shooting in 2015, I honest to God thought, "14 killed? What's the big deal?"

I actually have to remind myself to be appalled by the indifference to life displayed when one person points a firearm at another person and fires.

The September carnage in Las Vegas was so egregious it had the power to shock me. Yet when citizens tried to engage politicians in a conversation about guns in this country, all I heard was, "Now is not the time."

Apparently talking about Las Vegas is "politicizing" tragedy. Never mind that President Donald Trump and his spokeswoman, Sarah Huckabee-Sanders, talk about Chicago all the time. The White House brings up our firearm homicides when talking about immigration and sanctuary cities. The White House brings up our firearm homicides when the subject of gun control comes up. "Politicizing" the deaths of our young people is acceptable, I guess, because our blood is shed 24/7, while the Las Vegas murders happened in a matter of minutes. "Politicizing" our deaths is OK  because Illinois is a blue state while Nevada is red.

The White House is wrong.

NOW IS THE TIME. Today and every day is the time to talk about bringing peace to our streets.

•  How did the NRA amass so much influence? Is it because of their money? Is it because of their ability to get single-issue voters to the polls? We should examine this.

•  What role does gerrymandering play in the election and re-election of staunchly pro-gun politicians? We deserve to know.

•  There's a chasm between urban and rural Americans when it comes to the subject of guns. We need to talk about this, and listen to one another with respect.

•  What impact does our approach to mental health have on this gun carnage? As our lawmakers talk about dismantling Obamacare, are they considering this?

NOW IS THE TIME. Today and every day is the time to talk about bringing peace to our streets.

LEARN MORE ABOUT BLOGGING FOR PEACE HERE.

We're a community of writers who believe words matter.

Dona Nobis Pacem

In the last speech he ever gave, Robert F. Kennedy said:

"We can end the divisions within the United States. I think it's quite clear that we can work together ... We are a great country, an unselfish country, and a compassionate country."

And then, moments later,  he was shot with a handgun.

I live in Chicago, a city awash in guns, and awash in the bloodshed those guns make too, too easy.

Instead of dwelling on what we lost when we lost Bobby,  let's instead dedicate ourselves into living up to his faith in us.

Let's agree that guns kill people, and let's do what we can to keep guns out of the hands of terrorists, domestic abusers, and other violent criminals. Let's vote for candidates who will stand up to the gun lobby and close the loopholes that allow guns to end up in the wrong hands.

Come on, America! We can do this!

For more about the Blog 4 Peace movement, please click here.