There’s a story in this post… one of those that insists on making its way through all the chaos and filters to be heard again, in a dream, at this moment in time. Considerable hunting through the archives was involved!
The last time this particular story wanted to be heard – and shared – was on September 11, 2016. If you’re doing the history thing, that was the observance of 9/11 day, just before the upcoming election in the US. And, yes, I mean that election!
It was written by Sharon Mehdi and published in a children’s book entitled The Great Silent Grandmother Gathering: A Story for Anyone Who Thinks She Can’t Save the World.
You, wise soul, see where this is going…
| The Great Silent Grandmother Gathering 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 the world – 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. Even women standing in every country throughout the globe… standing to save the world! |
The mixed media piece, at the top, is my image of standing to save the world. In fact, it’s my #Legend painting from 2023, just after I stood in exactly that place, under that Laurel tree, with a whole other group of women standing to save the world. My current #Legend painting seems to have learned a lot at the base of Montsegur, and I am learning, still!
ps… just in case you’d like your very own copy of Mehdi’s book – with fabulous illustrations – click here! Clearly, I need another copy, as I gave mine to the (now) grand-teens!
pps… it’s a very special day at FierceArtWithHeart! Fix yourself a cuppa, click the colored link, and come shop a bit, especially if you need a hat for – you know – standing in the park! From casual to fab-dressy, one-of-a-kind, hand knitted and felted, glorious hats waiting for you in the Hat Heaven collection! AND, if you purchase a hat, at the special reduced price, I’d be thrilled to include a free copy of my new children’s book, A Creation Poem… All you do is add one hat AND one book to your basket and the elves will make the free book magic. NOTE: there are ONLY 8 hats available and this offer is ONLY good until the last one is adopted! (And, yes… if you buy more than one hat, you get an equal number of free books!)
