"Yesterday, I was honored to welcome the Buddhist monks to Washington National Cathedral, to learn from their example, and as Christians to recommit ourselves to the way of peace for all people. We are so grateful, so inspired, and so grateful that the monks are calling out the best in all of us as they make their pilgrimage among us. Their commitment to embody and bring peace to us all. Our response–across all that seems to divide us as a nation–reveals how united we are in our longing for peace, God willing, our readiness for peace. The monks, like all our spiritual masters of all faiths, including Jesus, remind us that true peace begins in the human heart, and in genuine peace offerings to those we love, the we struggle to love, and even those we would consider our adversaries." Mariann Edgar Budde, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington DC, USA

 

Mariann Edgar Budde, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington.

 dnSroeptsoigh6ccci83m56g140g1958244chtu003u8hlfg0h7a5t195hhh  ·

Yesterday, I was honored to welcome the Buddhist monks to Washington National Cathedral, to learn from their example, and as Christians to recommit ourselves to the way of peace for all people. We are so grateful, so inspired, and so grateful that the monks are calling out the best in all of us as they make their pilgrimage among us.

 

Their commitment to embody and bring peace to us all. Our response–across all that seems to divide us as a nation–reveals how united we are in our longing for peace, God willing, our readiness for peace. The monks, like all our spiritual masters of all faiths, including Jesus, remind us that true peace begins in the human heart, and in genuine peace offerings to those we love, the we struggle to love, and even those we would consider our adversaries.

 https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1474029741398283&set=pcb.1474029794731611

 [AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine, or at least fair and just laws and policies]     

 

Buddha's Teaching

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THE WALK IS OVER. THE MESSAGE HAS JUST BEGUN.

After more than 2,300 miles on foot, Buddhist monks have reached Washington, D.C., completing a historic Walk for Peace... a journey of discipline, compassion, and hope that touched hearts across the world.

In a time filled with anger, division, and endless noise, they chose silence.

They did not protest.
They did not argue.
They did not demand.

They simply walked.

Step by step, through heat, storms, and freezing cold, they carried a message that needed no slogans: peace is lived, not spoken.

A Living Prayer in Washington, D.C.

At Washington National Cathedral, faith leaders and thousands of people from different cultures and traditions gathered together in unity. It was more than an event. It was a living prayer — a reminder that beyond language, religion, and borders, the human heart still longs for harmony, safety, and compassion.

Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara shared a simple truth: walking together for peace is a moment to remember for a lifetime, and a path meant for the whole world.

Along the journey, Aloka the Peace Dog walked quietly beside the monks, touching hearts everywhere and reminding people that peace is not complicated. Peace is trust. Peace is kindness. Peace is silent love walking beside us.

If they can walk 2,300 miles for peace, perhaps we can take one step today.... one breath, one pause, one kinder choice.

Because sometimes, the quietest steps echo the farthest… and change the world.

Agree to disagree… and let people live their lives.

The water fountain is called a sabil [in Arabic], a word that originally meant path. Later, it came to mean path to God. Sabils were widespread in the Muslim world until the early 20th century. They were charitable water fountains refilled by water carriers at specific times of the day

 Jerusalem-  Naqshbandi Zawiya-  a historical little mosque built from about 300 years ago and also used as Islamic information center offers a free rest station for tourist free Islamic books free drinks and give an intro about Islam

Bukhari Mosque in Jerusalem

Arabs in Pictures   The water fountain is called a sabil, a word that originally meant path. Later, it came to mean path to God.

Sabils were widespread in the Muslim world until the early 20th century. They were charitable water fountains refilled by water carriers at specific times of the day. 

This Week In Palestine [actually every week in Palestine] Exceptional Women: Hanan Daoud Mikhail Ashrawi Daughter of Palestine By Zeina Ashrawi Hutchison

Hanan Daoud Mikhail Ashrawi

Daughter of Palestine

By Zeina Ashrawi Hutchison

As a child, I watched my mother precisely, yet effortlessly line her beautiful almond-shaped brown eyes in the mornings. The earthy colors of her make-up palette and the color-tone of the room were comforting in their familiarity. The various shades of green and beige on the bedcovers, the hints of red and orange on the book covers by her bed and sometimes in the clothes she meticulously hangs the night before. The beautiful wood closet doors and brass-colored hardware from the 1960s still feel timeless and homey.

The cream-brown instant coffee that was always placed within the perfect reach of her right hand, would always be followed by the much darker umber of Arabic coffee; the scent adding to the palette of the senses. She always looked focused yet graceful in her application. One line or two, then she checks each eye in the mirror before purposefully moving on to the next step in her routine. The yellow in the palette always came from her notepad that she kept to the side of her dresser, where she wrote down thoughts for a speech she had to give that day or notes for a paper she was working on (or both).  I was later told by my father that that is Mama’s space when she takes time for herself to get her thoughts together for the day.

The phone rings almost constantly, then as now; calls from fellow activists and colleagues discussing strategy, from the press requesting a statement or an interview, or from family or friends wanting to stop by or to discuss plans for family lunch on Sunday. The news, in both Arabic and English, is always on interchangeably, and sometimes simultaneously!

With students.

Her public impromptu speeches, interviews, and writing display her linguistic mastery of both Arabic and English. It was always apparent that she has a deep passion for literature and the arts.... READ MORE https://thisweekinpalestine.com/hanan-daoud-mikhail-ashrawi/

 [AS ALWAYS PLEASE GO TO THE LINK TO READ GOOD ARTICLES (or quotes) IN FULL: HELP SHAPE ALGORITHMS (and conversations) THAT EMPOWER DECENCY, DIGNITY, JUSTICE & PEACE... and hopefully Palestine]

https://thisweekinpalestine.com/twip-cover-322/ 

Issue: 322, March 2025

Exceptional Palestinian Women

https://thisweekinpalestine.com/table-of-contents-322/

ELECTIONS: Our tax money should go to the people's needs- not war mongering and weapons manufacturing for foreign countries that use bigotry and injustice to determine who gets security and who gets their home demolished.

Dear America,

I hope that whoever is elected strengthens the rule of fair and just laws here and there... "there" meaning any country that receives American friendship and support. 

Our tax money should go to the people's needs- not war mongering and weapons manufacturing for foreign countries that use bigotry and injustice to determine who gets security and who gets their home demolished.

I hope whoever gets elected looks back at the lessons we learned from the Nazi Holocaust, and they do all that they can to help empower The Universal Declaration of Human Rights- and international law as long as the laws are fair and just.

I believe American racism shores up Israel and empowers Zionist crimes against humanity because too many Americans do not want Jewish people living here in America.  I can assure you there are many good Jewish people on planet earth, and most of the better ones opt not to live in or support Israel.

Racist hate is wrong- both our own racist hate, and Zionist Israel's racist hate and state sponsored terrorism.  

Palestinian men, women and children have been besieged, pummeled, harassed, persecuted, oppressed, and denigrated by racist Israel for over 75 years at this point in time, but Israel spins every story to make Palestinians look bad.  Enough is enough. Israel makes US look bad and be bad: Israel IS WAR and is a threat to all- to everyone, including its own chosen citizens.

PLEASE let's shift job creation here away from weapons of destruction- shift job creation into recycling and clean up programs, strengthening infrastructures, and rebuilding homes for those in need.

And let's help Palestine emerge as a fully viable and free nation state, where religion is a personal private choice, and ALL children are cherished and taught kindness and compassion by example.

Sincerely,

Anne Selden Annab

NOTES   

https://x.com/AnnieAnnab

 https://anniesnewletters.blogspot.com/search/label/Notes

Dear America- We are in this collectively- no exceptions... Stop the hate- and the pollution of war.

Dear America- Don't let Israel drive a wedge between you and the truth.

Dear America, Please Help Stop Institutionalized Bigotry & Injustice

Dear America- Israel can not be trusted, and should not be subsidized

Don't give Israel the power to destroy the United Nations, the International Court of Justice, International Law, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights... and America.

Accusing peaceful pro-Palestine protesters of being "antisemitic" pleases Israel but it does not make any Jews any safer anywhere.

Send an honorable message far and wide- we believe in freedom of and from religion... and we believe in real justice, peace, and security for ALL !

 

"Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world..."   https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights

Christ was a Palestinian - an older poem by Anne Selden Annab

Handmade papermache creche of Mary, Joseph, & baby Jesus

                Christ was a Palestinian

And unto us
a new era is born

The Phoenix
rising from the flames
of "Israel"

In seeing the Israeli made myths
and violence now

as the information age explodes

We Know

We know that what was remembered then
was for power- not for truth

We know that Israel usurped land and rights- and even the story itself

Now and then

We know that Israeli crimes
are all the more wrong as they claim
to be for God

We know

Now and then

We know that the only known political fact
is simply that the prophet and savior Christ
was a Palestinian...

And we know that he deployed
Parables to free the people
from tyranny
of every type

Parables
to compel humankind to be both human
and kind

Parables
not guns

A dialog
not guns

Life
not death

We know that Christ is resurrection...

and we know that Palestine was then- and will be again
somehow

We know

and this faith
shall light our way

no matter what

This faith
will transcend the hate mongering
and sorrow and suffering...

This faith
will heal
the many wounds

made by "Israel"

and the many mistakes
made by all people
trying to find peace
in a troubled world

This faith will rebuild Palestine
one day

This faith will free the people
one by one
to transcend the many tyrannies
of our time

For Christ really was- is and always will be
a Palestinian....

poem & photo copyright ©2009 Anne Selden Annab

 

Growing Gardens for Palestine

Before You Can- a poem by Naomi Shihab Nye in Everything Comes Next

 

Naomi Shihab Nye

 

 Naomi Shihab Nye is a poet and songwriter born in 1952 to a Palestinian father, Aziz Shihab, who worked as a journalist, editor and writer, and American mother, Miriam Allwardt Shihab, an artist who worked as a Montessori school teacher.^[4] Her father grew up in Palestine. He and his family became refugees in 1948, when the state of Israel was created. She has said her father "seemed a little shell-shocked when I was a child."^[5]   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naomi_Shihab_Nye

21st September International DAY OF PEACE ... Peace Begins With (*fill in the blank)

United Nations- Universal Declaration of Human Rights Preamble: "Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world"

 

 Peace Begins With (*fill in the blank)

*me

*kindness

*compassion

*justice

*beauty

*grace

*courage

*hope

Dove of Peace, 1949 by Pablo Picasso

GOLDEN RULE THINKING: In a world where you can be anything be kind

The Same Basic Golden Rule as Expressed by "Different" People:

Change the World ... #PeaceDay

Charter for Compassion

 

 

 

“The only thing missing from any given situation is that which you have yet to bring to it” Mahatma Gandhi

Mass Collaboration for Compassionate Action
"What does the world need you to do at this time? How can you turn your passion into an act of compassion?" MORE...http://compassiongames.org/compassion-games/mass-collaboration-for-compassionate-action/

Naomi Shihab Nye, like her father, still holds out hope that the Israeli-Palestinian can be resolved one day and "we can all have dessert together."

http://www.dailycomet.com/article/20111126/APN/1111260537?p=1&tc=pg

Poet's notepad always handy

By CHARLES LUSSIER
The Advocate

Published: Saturday, November 26, 2011 at 6:01 a.m.

BATON ROUGE, La. - Naomi Shihab Nye always keeps on her person a small pad of paper and a sharpened pencil.

That habit came in handy when she and her husband, Michael, were robbed on a bus during their South American honeymoon. One of the only things she had left was her paper and pencil. She sat down on a park bench and a poem, "a gift," flowed out of her, Nye said.

The resulting poem, "Kindness," - "Before you know what kindness is you must lose things". it starts - is among the best loved in a much decorated and recognized career as a professional poet.

The poem, which she read recently for students and faculty at Episcopal High gathered in the school's performing arts center, recently gained new currency during the financial downturn, appearing in two books.

"I never thought that poem would be quoted by Bernie Madoff victims," she said, shaking her head.

Nye has published several collections of poetry, winning several honors. She was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets in 2010.

Nye, a personal friend of Episcopal's Head of School Hugh McIntosh, visited Episcopal on her way back home to San Antonio from a reading at Tulane University in New Orleans.

She read for an hour to grades eight to 12, then spent another hour conducting a workshop with the senior class.

In the workshop, Nye said not just "Kindness" but many of her poems come from observations and scraps of dialogue she hears as she goes through life...READ MORE