The Great Silent Grandmother Gathering

Watch the video athttp://www.standingwomen.org

The women of Ohio, U.S.A., call upon the women of theworld, from day-old babies to our most senior elders, to stand with us on May 13, 2007, to save the world.
Our project is based on Sharon Mehdi's book The GreatSilent Grandmother Gathering. If you don't know thestory, a summary of the original version is on thewebsite www.standingwomen.org (you can also read thestory at the end of this email).
If you think it is appropriate, please send this message on to all of the women throughout the world who you think might like to join us. We will be standing for the world's children and grandchildren, and for the seven generations beyond them. We dream of a world where all of our children have safe drinking water, clean air to breathe, and enough food to eat. A world where they have access to a basic education to develop their minds and healthcare to nurture their growing bodies. A worldwhere they have a warm, safe, and loving place to call home. A world where they don't live in fear of violence--in their home, in their neighborhood, in their school, or in their world. This is the world ofwhich we dream. This is the cause for which we will stand.
If you share this dream, please stand with us for five minutes of silence at 1 p.m. your local time on May13, 2007, in your local park, school yard, gathering place, or any place you deem appropriate, to signify your agreement with this statement. We ask you to invite the men and boys who you care about to join you. We ask that you bring bells to ring at 1 p.m. to signify the beginning of the five minutes of silence and to ring again to signify the end of the period of silence.
During the silence, please think about what you individually and we collectively can do to attain this world. If you need to sit rather than stand, please feel free to do so. Afterwards, hopefully you and your loved ones can talk together about how we can bring about this world. See www.standingwomen.org for more details and to register your commitment to stand with us. The website is in 15 languages and links to a YouTube video. We hope to see a 24 hour wave of women and men all overthe globe standing to save the world.
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Sharon Mehdi wrote a wonderful short story for her five-year old granddaughter, The Great SilentGrandmother Gathering that has inspired us. A quicksummary of the story is: A busboy who worked in a café whose window faced the public park noticed that two grandmotherly looking women had been standing in the park all day without moving at all and without talking. They were dressed up in their Sunday best and were just staring at the town hall. He asked the other patrons in the café what they thought the women were up to. They speculated on a variety of things. Then, a five-year old year who was in the café spoke up and said "One of them is my grandmother and I know what they are doing. They are standing there to save the world." All of the men in the café hooted and howled and laughed. On his way home the busboy decided to ask the women what they were doing and sure enough their answer was "We are saving the world."
Over dinner that evening the busboy told his parents and he and his father hooted and howled, but his mother was totally silent. After dinner, the mother called her best friends to tell them. The next morning the busboy looked out the café window and the two women were back, along with his mother, her friends, and the women who had been in the café the day before. All were standing in silence staring at the town hall. Again, the men hooted and howled and said things like "You can't save the world by standing in the park.That is what we have armies for," and "everyone knows you have to have banners and slogans to save theworld--you can't do it by just standing in the park." The next day the women were joined by the women who were in the café the day before and a number of their friends. This brought the local newspaper reporter to the scene. He wrote a derisive article about the women. The day after it appeared, hundreds of women showed up to stand in the park in silence. The mayor then told the police chief to make the women leave because they were making the town appear to be foolish. When the police chief told them they would have to disperse because they didn't have a permit, one of them responded that "we are just individuals standing in our public park and we are not giving speeches or having a demonstration so why would we need a permit." The police chief thought about this and agreed with them and left the park. At this point 2,223 women including the mayor's wife, the police chief's wife, and one five-year old girl were standing in the park to save the world. The news quickly spread and soon women were standing all over the country. The story ended with women standing in every country throughout the globe, standing to save the world.
See www.grandmotherbook.com.
We received this from Peggy Holman, who got it from
Karen McCarthy Casey
Inspired Action
10946 NE Seaborn Road
Bainbridge Island, WA 98110
206-842-3017 WA949-294-3062
assisting the creation and renewal of just,compassionate, sustainable community

According to Sharon's Peace Pilgrimmage Blog, here's how the whole thing started: Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Spontaneous wave of heartful intention
Dear friends of The Great Silent GrandmotherGathering, Something amazing is happening!!! Here's what I know from a few of the emails I've received in the past week:
1. Deb Ballam, Associate Provost for Women'sPolicy Initiatives at Ohio State University and a group of women from Columbus, Ohio were so inspired by The Great Silent Grandmother Gathering they created awebsite (translated into 15 languages!), a YouTubevideo, and 20,000 postcards and are blanketing the globe --literally! -- with a message asking women and men to stand in their local parks at 1 p.m. on Sunday,May 13, 2007 -- Mother's Day. Seewww.standingwomen.org.
2. Teena Booth, a television screenwriter who works inHollywood and lives in Arizona had the same idea at the same time and created a website inspired by the Grandmother story, asking people to stand at 1 o'clock on Mother's Day. Please see her most compelling website at www.standintheparkforpeace.org.
3. Linda Merryman, a convener of the Millionth Circle Initiative inspired by Jean Shinoda Bolen's book, linked up the two women and made sure news of theMother's Day event made it onto the Millionth Circle website. Linda emailed this morning to say already she's gotten word that Millionth Circle will host a Gather The Women of South Florida Mother's Day event. (See Linda's poignant letter about standing inAshland to help save the world at www.standintheparkforpeace.org)
4. Justine Willis Toms, co-founder and co-president of New Dimensions World Broadcasting, whose weekly in-depth interviews are heard on National Public Radio, will announce Deb and Teena's events in the March NewDimensions Newsletter and will call for people to stand at 1 o'clock on Mother's Day(www.newdimensions.org).
5. A woman from British Columbia who was representative to the 5th Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues at the United Nations and is part of a grassroots grandmothers-to-grandmothers campaign to help women in Africa, wrote to say she and a woman from India are organizing a Great SilentGrandmother Gathering on the steps of the Parliament Building in Victoria, B.C.
Please tell your friends and groups. And please consider standing, if only for a few minutes, at 1 o'clock on Mother's Day, May 13, 2007. Maybe, just maybe, this spontaneous wave of heartful intention will be the tipping point.
With love and hope.

"Work like you don't need the money, dance like no one is looking, and love like you have never been hurt!"
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