Knitting for Peace

My boyfriend created this little comic as a Christmas card. It’s cute, its funny, and the ending is poignant. When I showed it to my grandmother, she said, “You better get busy with that last part.” With sarcasm in my voice I replied, “Yeah…..”

As impossible as it may seem, the truth is that we all see little snippets of peace on earth every day. I realized this a little over a week ago when visiting my pals in Detroit. When most people, even Detroiters sadly, think of Detroit the image is glum. People think of a city long past its prime. A place filled with poverty, crime and little hope of regaining its former glory. When I think of Detroit I don’t think of urban decay and unemployment, no, thoughts of Detroit fill my heart with the warmth and the loving spirit of the people who live there.

My recent trip was mostly focused on my knitting buddies. We participated in a fundraiser for breast cancer research on Saturday and had an all girls Superbowl party on Sunday. The weekend was inspiring to say the least. On Saturday we experienced the comradery of working together for a cause, but more importantly we met an extraordinary person. This young woman attended the same event the previous year and was inspired to do something big for breast cancer research. She pledged to raise $10,000.00 and if successful she would shave her head. Saturday she arrived with no hair. What was more spectacular was that she exceeded her goal. She raised $20,000.00. In addition to those efforts she also began working with prisoners at a women’s prison teaching them to crochet chemo caps. These prisoners pledged to make 500 chemo caps. According to sources at the prison her efforts have led to a complete turnaround in the women there. Suddenly there were less fights, more cooperation. The women were teaching each other and working together for something meaningful. My friends and I were blown away. For anyone who is under the mistaken impression that the efforts of just one person are inconsequential I would like to introduce them to a young factory worker who has changed the lives of countless people with her efforts.


Sunday was the now annual “Knitting Bowl” all girls Superbowl party. One of my fabulous knitting buddies is the host and we usually have soups and munchies and lots of knitting fun. Another great recurring tradition is the Superbowl brownies lovingly made and decorated by Joe the wonder husband. Last year’s brownie bowl was played by cats, this year we had aliens vs. ninjas. Although the snacks were lovely, what was truly inspiring was the community gathered in that humble living room. In one room we had the most diverse group of people thoroughly enjoying their time together. There were women of varied and even opposing faiths, races and economic backgrounds and sharing love and laughter and fun. One woman, a Muslim convert, another Jewish, and others Catholic, Protestant, Atheist and Agnostic.


Two of the women work for the same company in vastly different capacities, one and hourly union employee while the other is salaried management. Yet another woman is fighting cancer and brought a tote bag with the message: Cancer can kiss my ass. A whole rainbow of skin, hair and eye colors filled the room. Our respective bank account balances likely varied greatly and yet the sum total of all these differences only added up to a greater richness.

What binds us is the shared experience of our humanity, the realization that there is so much that we all share, and even those things which seem different aren’t all that different from up close. Those differences are what make us who we are and are ultimately what we love about one another.

Every week these women get together for the simple and yet profound purpose of knitting and in the end their lives weave together like the fabrics they knit. This is peace on earth. If only the rest of the world could visit this living room……………

House of Four Rooms

"There is an Indian Belief that everyone is in a house of four rooms: A physical, a mental, an emotional and a spiritual. Most of us tend to live in one room most of the time, but unless we go into every room everyday, even if only to keep it aired, we are not complete."

-- Rumer Godden

Ok, so on principal alone, I don't do New Years resolutions. I can't bring myself to make commitments I can't follow through with. I do like the idea though. Start the year by pausing to reflect and readjust one's living. In truth I think I've spent the better part of a year in a state of constant reflection, but now is a good time to look back and figure out how to look forward.

In the last year nearly every aspect of my life has shifted, moved or been dumped completely on its ear. I've been in and out of relationships, jobs, homes, cars, debt and countless other things. I've seen, done and experienced a whole litany of things I wouldn't have fathomed just a few years ago. And at this moment I'm still upright and breathing and possibly even a little more sane than I was even a year ago.

One of the things that I seem to be learning on this crazy ride through uncharted life is that there is something profound to be understood about a well balanced life. I always knew that peripherally, but figured when I was less busy with work, or when the kitchen renovations were complete, or whenever the preoccupation of the moment subsided I'd slow down and meditate on that one. Interestingly enough, everything came crashing down around me and my choice was to give up, crawl under the rubble and die OR I could choose to start living my life, and maybe this time do it differently.

I chose life and in doing so I knew I had to turn my back on the old life in both literal and metaphoric ways. If this were a movie, that would be the happy ending, but life isn't that neat and orderly. In a myriad of ways this has been an atrocious year, but for now I'll focus on what I've learned.

1. Absolutely anyone can become homeless. I don't care how much money or education you have, life can go horribly wrong in such a short time. Without the help of my friends and family I would be on the street today.

2. People seldom offer help they don't intend to give. Receiving their help isn't weakness, it makes both of you stronger.

3. Hope is the only antidote to depression.

4. I'd rather be homeless than heartbroken (and I don't recommend doing both at the same time.)

5. None of the things that absorbed my time and energy were there to sustain me when life went topsy turvey. My career and home were gone and could bring no comfort to me.


6. The people in my life, whom I had sadly neglected for more "practical" concerns, their love and support was the glue that held me together.

And so the balance, it was all off. There were rooms of my house that I never entered. I was too busy for emotional things, or spiritual things, oftentimes I even neglected physical things. This year I learned that I have to bring balance to my life if I don't want the walls to fall in around me again. No resolutions, just a guiding principal.............live life in balance. One can only hope that a life in balance will be blessed with love, harmony and prosperity.