Greetings All, A quick thought regarding the banishment of "struggle"... maybe the use in the poem (beautiful, thank you, Kairi, for sharing it!) refers more to the violent, oppositional aspects of struggle and less to the more common use of the word to describe persistence in the face of great difficulty?
Vi 1: to make strenuous or violent efforts against opposition: CONTEND 2: to proceed with great difficulty or with great effort N 1: CONTEST: STRIFE 2: a violent effort or exertion: an act of strongly motivated striving Warm regards, Karen Karen Sella www.luminacoaching.com 206.780.2998 -----Original Message----- From: OSLIST [mailto:osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu] On Behalf Of john engle Sent: Thursday, August 11, 2005 12:17 PM To: osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu Subject: powerful poem! help me understand it. hi brendan, kairi and others. i've never opened space in a prison but i have participated in a touchstones discussion (http://touchstones.org) with about 25 men serving life sentences. the discussion centered around "power" and not surprisingly, i learned a great deal. great that you are doing this! i look forward to following developments as you work toward opening space in prisons. on another subject, kairi, thank you for sharing that poem in your message. i love it! and, i loved being at OSonOS! Judi, you and your team did a great job at receiving us and making us feel at home. while i love the spirit of the poem, i just don't know what to do with "banish the word struggle from your vocabulary." how do others see this? removing the word struggle from MY vocabulary seems like it could have some positive outcomes. at the same time, it's hard for me to think of a better word that describes daily life for so many people. and, not acknowledging this seems like i might be missing something as i work with folks in circumstances so much different from my own. i'm in haiti as i write and catching up with friends and colleagues. there are at least hundreds of thousands of people here--some estimate in the millions--that don't consume a meal each day. and when they do, they don't know when they'll eat next. i can't begin to imagine what living with so much uncertainty and discomfort must be like. and i've also learned that far too often we who live in financially prosperous countries romance poverty, saying that poor people are happier. it serves us (people who live in financially prosperous countries) well to see things this way and it pains me when i have US American visitors with me in Haiti and conclude after a week here that the people are "so happy." in many cultures, those in the southern countries included, it is appropriate to put one's best face forward especially when meeting visitors. those same Haitians who looked so happy to the visitor might be totally stressed out because they're worrying about how they're going to pay school fees for their kids and get a meal together, etc. when they speak in their own language to me, "struggle" projects from their facial expressions, body movement and words. i would not feel comfortable asking folks who live such realities to remove "struggle" from their vocabulary. thanks for your patience as i vent and live emotions connected to being with friends in extremely difficult situations. john http://JohnEngle.net email: j...@johnengle.net P.O. Box 337 Hershey, Pennsylvania 17033 tel. 202-236-6532 >From: Brendan McKeague <mckea...@iprimus.com.au> >Reply-To: OSLIST <osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu> >To: osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu >Subject: Re: There is a river flowing now very fast >Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2005 08:26:54 +0800 > > >"Banish the word 'struggle' from your attitude and your vocabulary. >All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration. >aahhh....thank you so much Kairi > >What a moment to receive this gift - the start of a brand new >day...beautiful and inspiring...today I will let go a wee bit more... >I am about to depart for a day's 'space-making' in a maximum security >prison with long-term offenders.. >I will be present and holding space with individual men - my dream is that >one day there may be more collective open space within such confinement... >. >Anyone ever opened space in a prison? > >peace to all >Brendan > >* >* >========================================================== >osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu >------------------------------ >To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, >view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: >http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html > >To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: >http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist _________________________________________________________________ MSN Messenger : discutez en direct avec vos amis ! http://www.msn.fr/msger/default.asp * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist