Things that Added to my Sense of Peace this Week

Top Ten (In no particular order)

1. Camel representatives

2. Wearing shorts on a Friday

3. Diners, Drive-ins and Dives

4. "I drink your milkshake!"

5. Ice Age 3's trailer as interpreted by the crowd at Gallery Place

6. Mark Sanchez...potentially

7. "When the girls are happy, I'm happy"

8. Gambit!

9. Si? Si! Que ridiculo!

10. That guy at Next Day Blinds

Things that Depleted my Sense of Peace this Week

Top Ten (in no particular order)

1. The Mets bullpen

2. Contemplating how a team managed by Vinny DelNegro can get this far into the playoffs.

3. The 'Big Gulp'

4. The fact that you can water parsley too much

5. Half of "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" (especially the part where they're loading his body with metal)

6. When I walked into my room to find my "Blues Brothers" poster had fallen down

7. Commercial breaks on AMC

8. Glenn Beck's live audience

9. Tea Parties

10. The battery life of the blackberry storm

Why a...eh..eh...ech omrim "blog?"

Quickie:

As news of the this blog has spread through word of mouth (usually my own) through the 20037 (or 20052, depending on how soon you want your mail to arrive), a very common question I've been asked is "Why a blog?"

At first I used to respond with generic ideas like "it's modern!" or "it's easy to access!" or "it easily disseminates ideas," but after reading a quote from an interview of Pete Seeger, I am confident in this medium's ability to encourage thought and perspectives on peace as a means of communication for people the world over.

In an interview regarding a 2007 documentary about Pete Seeger, Chud.com's Jeremy Smith (11/9/2007) asks Seeger about his reaction to seeing his family and friends comment on his career. Rather than answer the question by explaining emotions and opinion, he instead talks about the value of communication and his inability to express himself using only words.

"I've tried to write about these things with just words, and words can mean different things to different people. And I've told a lot of people that the human race won't be here unless we use all the different means of communication that are possible, whether it's pictures or music or food or dancing... as well as words." (Chud.com, "Exclusive: Pete Seeger 'Pete Seeger: The Power of Song' 11/9/2007).

One of the great benefits of using a blog, is that while most of the blog may be composed of words and comments and posts, one is encouraged to use multimedia, and if it can't be put directly on the blog, one can connect the readers to where they can find it.

So, despite (or perhaps in spite of) the monotony of a day job, below you can find some links to some oddball items that brought me a little peace (or hope for peace) today!

I firsrt saw Pete perform this song with Tao Rodriguez-Seeger and Guy Davis at the Lincoln Center's Out of Doors: 25th Annual Roots of American Music, but I just found another performance they had done of it earlier in 2008 on Letterman- dig in, and don't forget to sing along! "Take it From Dr. King"

If anyone would like to compliment my new haircut (which I know is on everyone's minds, or technically, just my own), check out Buzzing 4 Change, a unique and "hair-raising" (hahaha) way of raising funds (and locks of hair) to donate to people suffering from cancer.

Lastly: in honor of Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), I present to you "De Bunker," an interactive temporary exhibit near the City Hall of Amsterdam. Inside, one is presented with multimedia shows presenting dilemmas for which people have to decide how they would have acted under Nazi occupation. By forcing visitors (it's in Dutch and is meant for Dutch citizens) into situations other Dutch faced (starting with whether to allow a boy wanted by the Nazis into your house or not), the exhibit is an important education tool for a country where only 1 in 6 living citizens experienced World War Two. The exhibit finished in Amsterday earlier this month.

But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot...

Biblical peace symbols that are still ubiquitous and pertinent today include doves, olive branches, and rainbows. Interestingly enough, all of the icons have their origin in the story of Noah in Genesis. When finally the earth was purged of all its transgression and indulgence, the rains stopped pouring. Water began to evaporate and the life cycle continued.

Finally, Noah sends out various birds to see if they would bring back any sign of normalcy and sustainability. He continually searches for dry pasture. One dove eventually returns carrying an olive branch, life carries. The cycle of flooding to dryness is complete. Noah's faith is restored and the earth continues. 

Why are these biblical tropes so enduring? Why have doves, olive branches, and rainbows represented serenity since time immemorial?

Perhaps, peace can be defined as the promise of healthy continuation. Peace must not be only transcendentally felt, but must also be visible. The dove, olive branch and rainbow are all living, visual promises of continuity. The dove lives in the animal kingdom, the olive resides in the plant world, and the rainbow represents the continual air and water cycles. The  Earth is a single organism; a living creature that works to maintain order. Gaia Hypothesis describes this phenomenon. Transitively, peace, in order to be successful, must help to maintain continuity on the Earth. It must sustain animals, plants, and the ecosphere.

War is not peace because it destroys animals and humans.

Drought and Flood are not peace because they eradicates the flora.

Pollution is not peace because it ruins the environment without promise towards a healthy continuum. 

A time when plants, fauna, and all biology is healthy, is a time of peace. The dove, olive and rainbow attest to this.

Peace, above all, must promise continuity.

Genesis chapter 8, verse 22:
“So long as the earth endures
Seedtime and harvest,
Cold and heat,
Summer and winter,
Day and night
Shall not cease.”

-Keren, rhymes w/ Heron

cabin fever...or not?

Recently I worked at a sleep away camp in the Southeastern Berkshires. This is the place where I truly learned my love of the land, the tree and the mountains. I worked as a biking instructor to small children as well as a bunk counselor to a group of fourteen year old boys.

I loved the simple life.

actually, I love the simple life.

I would wake my kids up every morning, teach some biking lessons and watch them grow every single day for 2 months.

As well as getting to know most of the kids in camp, I knew every single staff member at the camp as well as all the maintenance and cooking crew. I knew that at any point I could sit down and see someone I liked and understood within a few minutes. If at any point I felt bad or I felt real good I could have someone immediately to talk too. In a certain way also, I was able to communicate with more ease to the people around me because we were all in a similar situation. I felt calm, safe and happy. Even more, I felt healthy and able to take care of myself and live the way I wanted to live. I believe in community.

On the other hand, something suspicious would always drive me to the local Mobil convenience store every hour off I had to buy the most recent NYTimes. I would then run to the staff lounge with my headphones on and sit down at a table and try to blaze through as much as I could within the hour given.

Why did I do this?

I seemed to have this basic drive to need to know what was happening in the rest of the world. Every time I read the paper I left annoyed, finding out about recent conflicts in places like Pakistan and Israel that would not make my day any brighter.

Why did I force myself to leave this community once everyday even though it's a place where I find a communal peace?

Is peace everything?

Welcome!

At last, the Peace and Petunias blog is up and running!

By utilizing the latest technology and methods of communication through a blog, I hope that viewers of this site will gain new perspectives, hear from people all over the world, and hopefully look at the idea of "peace" in new ways while also recognizing similarities in other posts.

I encourage you to take a second out of your day by either reading or adding to the blog, and I hope you will spread the word of this blog to others who may be interested. Please note that people of all ages will be reading and responding to this blog, and I ask that everyone keeps their blog posts appropriate for such a wide audience, while hopefully not detracting from the creative process.

So, my response is to the question: "What is peace?"

I was recently at home in Connecticut on a holiday break, and found the time to take a motorcycle ride one cloudy afternoon. While still paying attention to the road, the bike, and to my surroundings, I was also able to get a lot of sight-seeing done of a part of the state that I thought I knew. To my pleasant surprise, I discovered new roads, trees, houses, flowers, and pastures, and continued driving until I no longer knew where I was or how I got there. At first I thought I was lost, and immediately pulled out my blackberry to check out googlemaps and use my GPS to let my phone navigator take me home. I started by googling a store I had seen on the road (as it turns out there's more than one Walgreen's in western CT). After googling for ten minutes to no ado, I took my eyes off of the crackberry and looked up at the road, only to see a street sign with the name of a town I knew, and an arrow. I turned off my phone and followed the signs all the way home.

I didn't need google to find the way home.