Posted 12/12/2019 13:04:23
Category: Think Pieces
The other night, I dreamed a man painted my hand purple. I sat before him with my fingers outstretched as he painted carefully, applying more than one coat, making sure my skin was completely covered. The man stopped the paint in an even line at the top of my wrist. I woke next morning intrigued. An Internet search for “purple hands” took me to the home page of the Hands Project. Their logo? A Purple Hand With A Red Heart Embedded In The Palm. Their motto? Hands & Words Are Not for Hurting.
Entering its 16th year, one of the Hands Project’s main goals is to educate school children about violence and abuse and what they can do to stop it. The purple hand symbolizes hope and peace. Kindergartners are taught this pledge: I will not use my hands or my words for hurting myself or others. As part of the program, parents are offered advice for discussing anger, abuse, and violence at home.
It is the mission of the folks at the Hands Project "to educate each person in every community about their moral and legal right to live free of abuse & violence." They dream of the day when Purple Hands "outnumber the countless victims who have suffered and died as a result of violence.” In light of events such as the one that just happened in Boston, it becomes all too easy to accept that violence, rather than peace, is the norm. But what kind of future might be created if countless children carry into adulthood the Hands Project’s pledge? Good work, Hands Project! Thank you!
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George Bush has been a busy man this month. The George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum opened on the 25th, and Bush posted on Facebook an announcement of the April 13th birth of his first grandchild. Congratulations, Mr. Bush, on the birth of a beautiful, healthy girl. I’m anticipating the birth of my own first grandchild, also a girl, in June. I pray she will be as healthy and beautiful as your baby. I pray, also, for all the pregnant women of Fallujah, where massive use of uranium-based weapons has resulted in horrific birth defects and mental retardation in the babies born there, “in numbers you cannot imagine,” as one Iraqi doctor was quoted as saying.
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If you’re wondering what the title has to do with this month's blog, the answer is, not much. It's a rhetorical question, something I’ve wondered about as I’ve admired, while working in my yard, the profusion of dandelions which continue to evade the mower. In early spring, not only are dandelions cheerfully pretty, they’re edible, as Eka Kapiotis, foodie and gifted healer, points out on her FB page:
Fresh plucked dandelion greens sautéed with leeks and garlic for dinner…Dandelion flowers in my buckwheat pancakes this morning—like eating sunshine, makes my insides smile. How can anyone think they are pests?!!!...I mainly use the greens and yellow flower petals in salads and such. They are easy to pick out of the buds. But you can take a whole flower head, dip it in batter and, using the stem as a handle, fry it...gives the term ‘junk food’ a whole new meaning!
Until May, namaste. Peace. Don’t use your hands or words for hurting yourself or others. And take a moment to reconsider your feelings about dandelions.
--DAC
04/2013