Happy New Year 2018

     Kintsugi  is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. As a philosophy it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object, rather than something to disguise. I remember my mother constantly repairing things, not with gold or silver lacquer, but with needle and thread. I had a rag doll named Suzy that I carried with me everywhere. I can’t count how many times she gave Suzy a new face and a new bonnet and she even gave her new legs using a pair of socks. I would never have thrown Suzy away. It just made me love her more. I still have Suzy. I also recall grandma’s repairs on my nephew’s Moo Cow and my son’s Cat in the Hat. At one point, Cat in the Hat’s head almost came off but after grandma’s repairs, he was as good as new.  We still have Cat in the Hat who resides in a place of honor in our home with a big smile on his face. Those repairs and scars have only endeared him to us. 

     I think this year has left a lot of us feeling broken and discouraged. I cried on Election Night 2016 because I knew what the future held. I have worked and marched and protested and done everything humanly possible to stop the onslaught of attacks against our most vulnerable citizens and against our environment. I marched in the Resistance March during the Inauguration in DC and I marched the next day in the Women’s March in DC. I have rejoiced at small glimmers of hope and sobbed at our loses. I tried, where I could, to step in to help and support those vulnerable citizens who are afraid and in need.

     Now, a new year begins. It is time for us to practice the art of Kintsugi and mend those broken places and move into the new year renewed, repaired and with courage.  It is not the time for us to whimper and whine or roll over and play dead. It is not the time for defeat. It is not the time to be silent.  In 2018 we have the chance to get our country back on track. We have a chance to send the clearest possible message to Trump and his party that this country does not support his corrupt and divisive politics. But the only way we can do this is if millions of us come together.  If there was ever a time that called for all of us to pick ourselves up and keep going, that time is now.
 
     So, here’s to Kintsugi and Suzy and Moo Cow and Cat in the Hat! They have taught us lessons about life that we all need to revisit.  Let’s welcome 2018 and get started on the hard work that lies ahead. And as Cat in the Hat would say: “You’re off to great places. Today is your day. Your mountain is waiting so get on your way!”  

The Best Christmas Ever!

     When I was about 7 years old, attending a small neighborhood school, I had a sincere fascination with the custodian at our school who always sat in the boiler room shoveling coal to keep the heat going. James was a handsome black man with the biggest smile and whitest teeth I had ever seen.  He never came out of the boiler room during the school day.  Students passed the boiler room every day going to lunch. I would always smile at James and give him a shy wave and he always gave me a smile and a wave in return. One day, as I was going to get milk for our daily morning milk break, I decided I had enough of this shy wave and smile and decided to go in and give him a big hug. However, as I entered with arms open wide, he stopped me dead in my tracks with “Oh no! Don’t come in here.”  I did not understand why, but I followed his instructions.  We continued to wave and smile at each other. Then one day, James was gone.  Weeks went by and he was not there.  I felt so sad. I finally asked my dad about James and he reluctantly told me that James had been accused of stealing money from the school office and was in jail. I immediately screamed out in tears that he did not do it, that I knew he did not do it! My heart was broken.  Now I knew where James lived in a little shack in the middle of a cotton field with a big oak tree in the front.  We passed that little house on the way into town and I had seen children playing in the front of the house. As Christmas approached, I asked my dad about those children and what might Santa bring them. That was the moment that I realized that Christmas is for the rich. Now, we were far from rich. My dad was minister on a “mill hill” and my mom sewed all my clothes. We only got one or two cherished things for Christmas, but compared to James we were blessed.  I asked Dad if we might help Santa.  I went through my toys and selected a few good ones to give away. I collected toys from neighborhood friends.  I selected one of my dolls and got mamma to make doll clothes from scarps of cloth.  Mamma always made lots of Christmas candy and cookies and this year we packed some into a nice tin and daddy bought some food items from the grocery. On Christmas Eve morning, daddy and I proceeded to drive to James house with Santa’s sack. When we arrived, the little girl who was about my age, came out.  We told them that Santa had come early and had left some things at our house by mistake.  We gave them the toys and food. Daddy visited a while, and I played with the little girl in the yard. I still remember their dirt floors and little two room house. I remember the rusted tin roof. But most of all I remember how happy we were playing together.  I don’t know who was more delighted, me or them!  I don’t remember what I got for Christmas that year, but I remember daddy and me going to James’ house to deliver Santa’s presents. I remember what they got!  It has stayed with me forever. I will never forget that day. It was a life changing moment for me.

     We are all familiar with the story of the child born in a manger surrounded by farm animals, but very seldom do we consider the conditions and realities of that scene.  We don’t like to think about the poverty associated with the birth of baby Jesus, because Christmas is supposed to be a time of abundance.  We don’t like to consider the violence of an empire characterized by Herod killing children, because Christmas is a time of celebration. We overlook the historical poverty and oppression surrounding the birth of the child because it is uncomfortable and doesn’t fit in with what we have made Christmas to be. We ignore the reality of a poor, immigrant family forced to make a dangerous trip and that the child we celebrate chose to live a life of homelessness.

     The Christmas story is a story that we can imagine in our own time.  There is still the reality of poor immigrant families being forced to make dangerous journeys. This story is played out among the Central American migrants homeless at our border towns. It is played out with the Syrian refugees, cold and hungry in northern Greece.  It is played out in our own towns, in an alleyway or on a street corner or a tent town deep in the woods. It is played out with a neighbor working two jobs and still can't pay the bills. However, the analogy is lost on our politicians who keep assuring us that we should not worry about their fate but focus on our own comfort and safety. This is not the message of the Christmas story.

     We keep hearing that there is a war on Christmas and that we must put Christ back in Christmas. We attended a Christmas parade in a small town this year where there were many churches with parade floats. But not a single church had the manger scene. Their floats only had crosses and one float had a confederate flag on the front with  Peace on Earth on the back. What irony! The war on Christmas comes from some of the very people who yell about a war on Christmas. Every year they are upset because they don’t like the cups at Starbucks or someone saying “Happy Holidays!” I somehow don’t believe Jesus would care about the Starbucks cups or how he was greeted. As the scripture says “You strain a gnat but gulp down a camel.”  The war on Christmas comes from within a person’s heart and soul. If we really want to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas, it means forsaking much of our “celebration” and “abundance.” It means forsaking a warm home and elegant meals and tangible gifts. It means abandoning the malls and extravagant spending. It means giving up “over the top” office parties and high expectations for Christmas Day.  Instead, we must take a trip to visit the homeless and feed and clothe them, work in the soup kitchens, house a homeless youth or child, take care of the widow and her children, buy groceries for the poor, help pay medical costs for the sick. We need to visit those in prison and offer them hope and support. Instead of a huge tree ornately decorated in our living rooms, give the tree and gifts to a family suffering from a job loss.  We need to stop telling our children there’s a Santa Claus and involve them in helping us to be Santa Claus for others. And above all, we need to fight for the rights of "the least of these" all year long!  Then we will know the true meaning of Christmas.

     I never saw James again and the family eventually left that little house and it stood empty. It is gone now, but I have thought about them often through the years, especially at Christmas time. Every time we pass the field where that house stood, I can still see them playing in the yard of that little shack with the big oak tree. Talking about James still brings tears to my eyes. How could a man with whom I shared nothing but a smile and a wave, make such an impact on my life? I never knew where the family went. I never knew what fate awaited James. I did know and I still know that James was an innocent man. Above all, James taught me some of the most valuable life lessons I ever learned.  Thank you, James, for helping me understand the true meaning of Christmas.  Thank you for letting me really see poverty for the first time. Thank you for teaching me that the color of our skin does not matter. Thank you for helping me see the unfairness of our justice system. Thank you for gently showing me the inhumanity of man. Thank you for showing me that a smile and a wave can change a life. Thank you for giving me the best Christmas I ever had.

I Am Woman

   

         One of my favorite women's rights activist of all time is Sojourner Truth. Sojourner Truth, who was born into slavery, became both an abolitionist and a women's rights activist. In 1851, she extemporaneously delivered a speech called "Ain't I Woman" in Akron, Ohio at the Ohio Women's Convention. Her short, simple speech was a powerful rebuke to many anti-feminist arguments of the day. It became, and continues to serve, as a classic expression of women's rights. Truth became, and still is today, a symbol of strong women  One of my favorite parts of this courageous speech is "If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again!"  Indeed we can!

     This week, Time Magazine named the "Silence Breakers" as person of the year. The cover of the magazine featured five women and an anonymous arm. The anonymous arm belongs to a woman in Texas, a healthcare worker and a mother, who still wishes to remain anonymous. She is in solidarity with all those women who have not yet been able to come forward. Let's not forget that the women on the cover are rich and famous, but there are so many women in small towns and lower paying jobs who can not afford to come forward. May we, our daughters, our granddaughters and our sisters continue to speak out and be united in one powerful voice and always speak for those who can not speak for themselves. 

                                                           
I Am Woman by Melba Evans 11/2017

I am WOMAN.

Never doubt that I will accomplish just what I say I will.

Never think that I am not wise or witty or shrewd.

I am fearless and will walk gently into the night unafraid.

I can do anything because I am all these things.

I am WOMAN

I am WOMAN

Do not think I cannot make a contribution to this world.

I will change the world.

Women have contributed to this world since the beginning of time.

Women have been there in wars, in famines, in life and even in death.

I am WOMAN

I am WOMAN

Never tell me what I can and cannot do.

I will take your hand when no one else will.  

I will take the hand of a child till it is no longer needed.

I am a teacher, a giver, a lover, a healer and a truth teller.

I am WOMAN

I am WOMAN

Do not tell me when I grow old that I am worthless to society.

Do not tell me that I am used up because I am divorced, widowed or alone.

I can leap in and out of life with great courage.

And in aloneness, I find my strength

I am WOMAN

I am WOMAN

Do not pity me for the wrinkles of time.

Time has created me through many wounded pieces.

I’ve survived strife and conflict and I wear these wrinkles as a badge of honor.

A true woman’s beauty is in her courage, in her heart and in her soul.

I am a survivor because

I am WOMAN