Tag Archives: human-rights

No Entry Allowed! Says Who?

Posted on September 26, 2012 by | 7 Comments

Robert Lee Brewer asks us today to write about “trespass” poem. It is definitely an interesting choice of a prompt. Some of you may be thinking of the legal interpretation to unlawfully enter a place, a property or person. I, on the other hand, had drifted over to the French usage of the word. It literally means to “pass beyond” and, shortly after 1300s, it began to refer to crossing over into death.

A poem about “trespass” can only be a poem about boundaries and the vigilance with which we guard the magical line against the perceived threat of ill doers and knaves.

Today, I offer you three poems each featuring a different connotation of the word “trespass”.

Poetry is an...

Poetry is an… (Photo credit: liber(the poet);)

Watching Her Lines (A Sevenling)
By: Meena Rose

She swore off three things:
Spontaneity,flights of fancy
And intimacy.

She vowed herself to
Hard work, responsibility
And celibacy.

… Yet, she fell in love at first sight.

Sentinel
By: Meena Rose

For all the lines you watch
Twixt him and I;

For all the forced smiles you see
Twixt him and I;

For all the forgotten promises
Twixt him and I;

Why do you silently look on
With nary a judgment?

The Grandest Trespass
By: Meena Rose

In this game of life, they tell me -
Rest safe no one can disturb
Your peace; the law protects you.
No one can trespass upon your
Domain.

If that was truly the case,
Why do so many claim they are
But door mats to be walked on?
They feel violated, ignored
And dismissed.

How is it that my peace is
Disturbed due to trespasses
Upon others? Wouldn’t that
Emotional disruption count
As a trespass upon my domain?

I am Mind, Body and Soul -
I find our legal constructs
Cater to Body while
Ignoring Mind and Soul.
A trespass upon Humanity

Would you not agree?
Compassion is our birth right;
The savior of a species
Which is becoming dehumanized
By the day.

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Posted in Carpe Annum, Conservatory, Prompted Wednesdays, Through the Eyes of Meena Rose

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Observations of Modern Day Ancients: The Outlaw

Posted on September 13, 2012 by | 2 Comments

Stair Step Falls, GNP
Photo Credit: Meena Rose

Today, we will explore the eighth Taoist observation of the way of the Ancient. Please look below for the other articles in the series.

Throw away holiness and wisdom,
and people will be a hundred times happier.
Throw away morality and justice,
and people will do the right thing.

The Ancients did not fret over rules and laws and they never bothered with contrived ethics and morality. To an outsider, it may appear that their actions seem oblivious to what is deemed acceptable by the society in which they live. In reality, the Ancients lived in the flow of the moment and acted upon their natural urges in a given situation. Their intentions were virtuous and in complete harmony with the Tao. They subconsciously acted to the highest morals.

The Ancients will inevitably break the law of their society if they deem it unjust and without compassion. The more and more such unjust and unfair laws exist in a given society, the more at odds the Ancients will be. Despite their desire to remain detached from the political processes of the land, they will become politically involved albeit quite  reluctantly. The Ancients will always search for the most amiable solution.

The man who is truly wise and kind
leaves nothing to be done,
but he who only acts
according to his nation’s law
leaves many things undone.

The Ancients once engaged on a course biased towards action will leave nothing undone. Each “i” will be dotted and each “t” will be crossed. Nothing will be limited or confined to a given society’s agenda, hidden or otherwise, for when the Ancients become involved, it will be towards achieving harmony with Tao.

The greater the number of laws and restrictions,
the poorer the people who inhabit the land.
The sharper the weapons of battle and war,
the greater the troubles besetting the land.
The greater the cunning with which people are ruled,
the stranger the things which occur in the land.
The harder the rules and regulations,
the greater the number of those who will steal.

The Ancients, though seeking detachment from the day to day actions of society, will watch the ways of the land from their distanced view. Nothing will slip their observation. This way, when the Ancients are approached by the people, they will always be able to act within the moment and allow the Tao to guide their actions.

If the people are not afraid of death,
they have no fear of threats of death.

If early death is common in the land,
and if death is meted out as punishment,
the people do not fear to break the law.

To be the executioner in such a land as this,
is to be as an unskilled carpenter
who cuts his hand
when trying to cut wood.

It should come as no surprise that the Ancients are not afraid of death. When they are moved to action, they will do what they are called upon to do. Even though the Ancients will always try to seek an amiable solution to any problem, they will stand against that which comes between them and the object of their compassion. Given their natural alignment to the harmony of Tao, they will dedicate themselves to restoring the balance without concern for their own personal life. In that way, the Ancients become efficient at dealing with such issues due to their own natural distaste for politics.

Related articles
  1. Observations of Modern Day Ancients: So What Is An Ancient Anyways? (meenarose.com)
  2. Observations of Modern Day Ancients: A Harmony of Paradoxes (meenarose.com)
  3. Observations of Modern Day Ancients: Close Harmony With Nature (meenarose.com)
  4. Observations of Modern Day Ancients: Light Traveler (meenarose.com)
  5. Observations of Modern Day Ancients: Equanimity (meenarose.com)
  6. Observations of Modern Day Ancients: Peaceful Warrior (meenarose.com)
  7. Observations of Modern Day Ancients: An Invisible Tree (2voices1song.com)
  8. Observations of Modern Day Ancients: The Outsider (2voices1song.com)

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Posted in Carpe Annum, Garden, Observations and Epiphanies, Through the Eyes of Meena Rose

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Everyday Hero: Dr. Hawa Abdi

Posted on July 22, 2012 by | 2 Comments

Yesterday an interesting chat had sprung up around the dinner table. It was not your standard fare. My son asked the following question “How does one keep peace when everyone else is at war?” My youngest piped up “Obviously, you will help the others hurt by the fighting.”

That dialog led to the selection of today’s Everyday Hero: Dr. Hawa Abdi -a life saver and peacemaker extraordinaire.

Dr. Hawa Abdi Dhiblawe with her two young daughters, Dr. Amina Mohamed Abdi, and Dr. Deqa Mohamed Abdi

According to Glamour Magazine, Dr. Hawa Abdi is a combination between Mother Theresa and Rambo. Dr. Hawa Abdi or Mama Hawa as she is referred to in Somalia was born into a privileged family in Mogadishu, Somalia on May 17, 1947.

Mama Hawa’s mother died in childbirth when Mama Hawa was but twelve years old. Her father took on the task of raising her and seeing to it that she was able to enroll in medical school. She became the first woman doctor specializing in gynecology in the Muslim country of Somalia.

I was working in a tough situation, very dangerous, and when I saw people who needed me I was staying to help because I [could] do something for them…
~ Dr. Hawa Abdi

Mogadishu 2

Mogadishu 2 by david_axe, on Flickr

When civil war broke out in 1983 in Somalia, Mama Hawa had the option to leave the country. Instead, she chose to stay. Using all of her family’s money, she built a 400 bed hospital. Her patients were primarily women and children.

Seven years into the war and with no end in sight, Mama Hawa came to the realization that many needed to be kept safe – not just mended. She then opened up her family farm to receive the many women and children who were fleeing their villages.

By 2000, her community housed 90,000 refugees and had expanded to include a school for 800 children, and adult classes in nutritious cooking, farming, sewing and fishing. Mama Hawa’s community thrives on two rules:

  • The community will not tolerate political talks.
  • If a man beats his wife, he is placed in a make shift jail till the police arrive.

It was a great shock for Mama Hawa to see that war had found her camp and reached her and her people. The year was 2010. The terror was palpable as 750 fighters opened fire using their automatic rifles. Clearly outnumbered, Mama Hawa still stood her ground as her hospital was completely ransacked.

Mama Hawa remembered one extremist thug shouting;

“Why are you running this hospital? You are old. You are a woman”.

The then 64 year old replied “Yes, you are young, and you are a man. But what have you done for your society?… I am not leaving my hospital. If I die, I die with my people and my dignity.”

We are not just helpless victims of Civil War-We are the leaders…We make peace. We are the hope of the future generations…We can do everything.
~ Dr. Hawa Abdi

Two significant political events happened next:

  • The powerful clan leader unanimously agreed that Dr. Hawa Abdi was very much needed in Somalia and had to be saved. They denounced the work of that rebel group and threatened them to stand down.
  • The Muslim women refugees banded with Mama Hawa and risked their lives to keep her safe. They too denounced and shamed the rebel group.

Dr. Hawa Abdi along with her daughters have since been dubbed the “Saints of Somalia”. In 2011, they joined TED to give a brief talk of their work. The video is linked below. In 2012, Dr. Hawa Abdi was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

To find out more about Mama Hawa, please visit the following sites:

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Cloudy With a Chance of Uncertainty

Posted on July 8, 2012 by | 4 Comments
Uncertainty

Uncertainty (Photo credit: nicubunu.photo)

Today, Poetic Bloomings wants us to examine uncertainty. It is amazing how the prompt itself has me in a place of doubt as to which words to respond with. The muse is most certainly undecided and most decidedly uncertain about which angle to take.

A Promise
By: Meena Rose

I cradled her against my heart;
Tears flowed forth showering
Her with love.

I inhaled her precious scent;
A silent oath of devotion
Sprang forth.

Blood of my blood,
Flesh of my flesh,
I give you my all.

I looked into her bottomless eyes;
A hardened resolve was born to
See her through the Night.

###

Uncertain Times
By: Meena Rose

An ever changing world;
A fast moving landscape;
A steady tug to conform.

A charged climate;
A precipice of change;
A delicate balance shifts.

Racism, sexism and ageism
Abound while more isms surface;
My favorite: Superegotism.

The following antidote
Must be enough – adaptability
Anchored by common sense.

Not sure about you,
I have to make a societal
Antidote for my kids.

#  #  #

Meena’s marvelous examples lead into my own late writing for this prompt.

Decisional Effort
by Claudette J. Young

Shall I take this path?
Perhaps that one’s better.
Is anyone waiting for me
When I reach the other end?

How can I remain myself
In the face of so many other
Definitions of who I am,
When clues to identity elude me?

Will any miss me at day’s end?
Have any noticed my silence
When normal chatter is absent
From channels that lately flourished?

Oh, to say yay or nay
And be done with indecision
Forever at this late stage of
Questioning life and its meaning.

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Posted in Conservatory

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Everyday Hero – Gerson Andrés Flórez Pérez

Posted on June 10, 2012 by | 11 Comments

As you well know, there are two topics that are near and dear to my heart: social warriors and peacemakers. Young or old, national or international, those differences do not affect me. What does affect me is the inspiration and hope and peace of mind that these generous people freely bestow upon me.

Today, I would like to talk about Gerson Andrés Flórez Pérez. Gerson was one of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize nominees. He was 16 years old at the time. His work as a peacemaker started much earlier when he was 11 years old. His path towards peace started when he saw a news story covering the explosion of landmine claiming the life of a girl in that flash.

These events overflooded my sense of humanity. Yes, in the deepest of my being, a great challenge set root; a challenge which in that moment perhaps only was nostalgia, but which day by day turned into my most important objective—the objective which I fight for today. An objective liberated from peace retorics, but filled with humbleness and novelty provided by God, who has always guided me.

At my young age and with my innocence, I understood that for many adults peace is as a good of a business as war, and that only when it is born from our interior, will we be able to bring peace to our fellow beings. I understood that true peace is provided by God, and that it is our duty to maintain it for the well-being of all humanity.

~ Gerson Andrés Flórez Pérez

In 1998, Gerson wrote a proposal for peace. It was his desire that voice of the children be recognized and heard. The proposal was entitled “Children For Peace”.  Support for his proposal grew and was eventually presented before the President and First Lady of Colombia.

As a result of the proposal, 2,700,000 children from all over Colombia voted in a referendum and insisted that their basic and essential rights be respected. This act was named the “Children’s Movement for Peace”.  As Gerson expected, the children’s voice had a huge effect. Soon after this vote, 10,000,000 adults also voted and demanded peace in Colombia.

Gerson later followed his calling to the Hague Appeal Conference for Peace where he met with Cecily Miller, a school teacher working on her peacemaking project “Children’s Messages to the World”.  Cecily recalls her first encounter with Gerson as follows:
 Upon meeting this young missionary, I knew I was in the presence of greatness. His authenticity, intelligence, divine compassion, generosity, inner peace and purposefulness moved me deeply. I was honored to connect with this “young” master so that I may deliver his message to the world in the book I am compiling, Children’s Messages to the World.
His passion and drive towards peace never faded. He was awarded the 1999 Global Youth Award for Peace and Tolerance, and the National Peace Award for his outstanding efforts. In 2002, he became the youngest law student at at The Universidad Nueva Granada.
Over the years, Gerson has met with three Latin American presidents, various ministers and ambassadors, Queen Noor of Jordan, Netherland´s Prime Minister and Nobel Peace Prize laureates Rigoberta Menchú and Jody Williams. Gerson was the first child to speak before the Colombian Congress his message uniting children and adults alike. Other children from around the world have since drawn inspiration from the “Children for Peace” movement, started by Gerson, and have since started similar movements in their own countries.

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Posted in Red Door

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