Healing through art & therapy! I used to be depressed and codependent with very low self worth and many unhealthy habits. But several years ago I started the healing process and am sharing what I learned with gratitude and hope for each of us. Peace & hugs, Leah
This article I am sharing “How To Plant The Seed Of Self-Acceptance In Your Child” was written for parents and caregivers of children, but I think we can all use a reminder of how important it is to be aware and give credit to other people’s emotions. Especially now in a season of mudslinging and political rifts, we should all be mature enough to realize that disagreeing and arguing is fine, but let’s not be a complete a**hole and say that someone is wrong for what they feel. Don’t disregard what someone else feels because it is contradictory to what you know. Keep in mind the saying of how you don’t know someone until you walk in their shoes.
Some of the great advice in this article is to listen to the opposing view, ask questions, and not be close minded. After you have listened to the other person than you may share your own knowledge, but don’t have expectations of automatic concession. We educate by sharing knowledge, not by asking others to blindly believe. It also goes both ways. You never know what you might learn. Empower yourself by holding your mind and heart open.
I just found this article about a young man named Justin Lee, who at the age of 17 decided to clean up his neighborhood. He mows lawns on vacant homes, removes litter, and plants flowers. And he does it all on his own.
“Lee said one thing that spurred him to act was seeing young children walk through trash and weeds to nearby Ohio Elementary School. “It’s not motivating,” he pointed out. He hopes he encourages others to follow in his footsteps. “One day of doing something is better than two days of thinking about it,” he said.” – Thank you Mark Ferenchik of The Columbus Dispatch for sharing this story of Justin’s amazing effort.
I love reading about people who just go and take action. He didn’t wait for a team of people to help, he just started working. That initiative is what we need more of from the smart people in the world.
SHARE AN ARTICLE WITH US ABOUT A CHANGE MAKER WHO INSPIRED YOU!
This poster is on the Men Can Stop Rape website. It is as straightforward as can be about how it is up to men to share a view of respecting women. Which is good marketing considering how men are inclined to listen to direct talk as opposed to women who are taught to read between every single line. If I was a man I would be upset about how many women hate and or feel threatened by all men because a so many of the male gender are jerks. If I was a man I would do something about how women are treated like shit by other men. I would have that much respect for my mom, my sisters, aunts, grandmothers, daughters, nieces and female friends.
I found a great article on what our educational system needs written by a teenager who receives their education through home study. The article is on TeenInk.com and my favorite part was about how their mother, who teaches them and their sister’s, has made a point of informing them how important it is and how privileged they are to have this opportunity. The author states that parents who don’t share this view with their children is one major flaw in our education system. “In the past, going to school was a privilege. Children wanted to go to school. … Because school is now mandatory, many children seem to have lost their love of it. For me, school is mandatory, too… I have to learn. But she has taught me that education is a privilege, and given the choice I would still choose to learn rather than be uneducated.”
That view is shared along with what they say about how their mom is able to give so much attention since she only has 3 children to teach as opposed to the new normal of 25 or more in one classroom. “Another thing that’s great is that if I don’t understand something, my mom can sit down with me and help me one-on-one until it clicks. Because she only has three students to teach, she has more time to make sure we all understand our work. A school teacher with twenty or more students simply doesn’t have that time to help the students individually.”
It’s great to read these words form someone who is actually STILL IN SCHOOL, as opposed to those adults among us that figured it out much later.
WHAT CAN WE DO TO ENCOURAGE A DESIRE TO BE EDUCATED IN ALL CHILDREN?
Voice 4 Society is another great supporter that empowers and connects people with tools and information. V4S shares resources, information, life lessons, and stories of positive change from people of various backgrounds. “Life is one big lesson and we are here to pass on your wisdom to this generation so that they could make a positive impact on the future.”
Yes, you can be deaf, and even mute, and be in a poetry jam. I am constantly amazed at the innovative people in this world that do what seems impossible or never even crosses my mind. Aside from a few people I have met, my experiences with deafness is my sister learning sign language as a teenager, my friend in college studying ASL, and reading biographies about Hellen Keller. While researching women who make a difference I found this preview for a movie on PBS about young people who are deaf and how they became part of a poetry jam/slam contest.
We all think of entertainment as having lots of noise, but think about back in the day when movies first came out. Those were SILENT. You laughed or cried because of the actors facial expressions and body language. Deaf and mute does not decide whether or not you can “speak out” and express yourself. If you know someone who is deaf or has a deaf child, friend, or acquaintance share this video with them. Show that you understand deaf people can be heard.
Get involved at Ohsoez.com/Events and find events in your local deaf community that you can be involved with.
Would you have the courage to stop war and rape by gathering a group of women (or men) together and staging a sit in to meet with the president and call for peace? Leymah Gbowee did and she succeeded.
After years of civil war ravaged her country she learned that since women suffer the most during war that women promoting peace would be the way to solve her country’s problem and end the war. She became a trauma counselor, joined the Women In Peacebuilding Network, and formed a group of women who worked for peace in Liberia. Their efforts forced then president, Charles Taylor to attend peace talks and eventually end the war. After that the women worked to elect a new president and the first female president, Ellen Sirleaf. Leymah is now the executive director of Women Peace and Security Network which is a women focused, women led, NGO in Ghana working to promote women’s strategic participation and leadership in peace and security governance in Africa.
The civil war that ravaged Liberia destroyed so many lives, but like all wars, someone decided to change tragedy to triumph. How did a mother of six graduate college, work, volunteer, and still make time to create such change? She took action and she gathered other concerned women to help.
In 2002 with very little time to spare, she worked with other women of different religious backgrounds by asking for help from people she knew. Together they made flyers and would go to different churches and mosques to get more women involved in “praying for peace”.
Once they had hundreds of women assembled, they held protests with threats of curses and a sex strike to get men to pay attention. Eventually they were able to protest in a soccer field that was part of the route where the president drove to work each day. He granted the women an audience and they convinced him to attend peace talks in Ghana.
In 2003 the women went to the peace talks, applied pressure and after months of protest were finally able to end the war.
It is not easy to be deaf and not easy to have a deaf child, but it is important to remember that deaf is not a “bad” or “dumb” aspect, just like being blind, in a wheel chair or missing an appendage does not make someone dumb. Dumb is thinking that you are better than someone else because they are handicapped. Dumb is thinking that you cannot give your child a wonderful life.
There is a video called “To Educate Hearing Parents of Deaf Child on YouTube. It was created by a young woman who is a college graduate and model that happens to be deaf. Her advice for parents is simple: Show lots of love, learn sign language to communicate, be involved with your child’s deaf community, treat your child normal, and trust your heart. Here is the video:
FYI: I recently learned that it is not politically correct (PC) to call someone “differently abled”. According to Urban Dictionary and several other websites and blogs, this word is an insult. So use specific words like blind, deaf, paraplegic, quadriplegic or if you don’t know one and you must describe their differences from what you consider “normal” use disabled.
Do you have an image in your mind of environmentalists as a small section of upper middle class whites, boring scientists, or aging doped up hippies that live in a commune? This image is marketed in blockbuster movies, TV shows, and magazines, but like most of what the mainstream media projects it is just a tiny fraction of our world. It’s time to shake that image off and step outside away from your TV or computer screen. Anyone can clean up and protect our environment, just like residents of D.C. in the “South East” area near the Anacostia river. Like many “ghettos” in the USA a majority of residents are black and brown with little income and YES they care about the environment.
The Earth Conservation Corps is a community program that encourages youth to get involved with environmental issues. It provides paid work and education to make it happen. Despite the area’s reputation to be a hot bed of violence, pollution, and poverty, residents are cleaning up and protecting their beautiful home. Until today I had not heard of this amazing community work and education program. I watched a video on PBS in a series, Special Profiles: Making a Difference in the Community and am their newest fan.
ECC gets their message out into the community. ecc1.org
Youth ages 17-25 are PAID and given health benefits to be a part of the ECC. There is even a $5,0000 scholarship for youth that return to school. The organization offers environmental education, workforce training, and journalism/media arts training.
Members host assemblies at schools to teach about environmental sustainability and wildlife.
Workforce training is supplied for jobs in public lands and green energy jobs.
They are trained to record and report on their activities. This includes investigation and research into who and what is polluting the river.
The ECC is profiled n a wonderful video on PBS and Jerome Scott, is my newest role model. He is a knowledgeable environmental steward who gives guided tours with elementary students. Earth Conservation Corps on PBS. So many youth have been provided a chance to move beyond what they know and succeed. You can also enjoy this article on ecc1.org about Lavette Sears and her success n the program.
This is not a everything is great now story. Over the years of work, many corp members have been killed simply from living in the neighborhoods they grew up in. At the end of the video on PBS you learn about the true obstacles that residents must overcome to change their community. One tragic example among many is Jerome Scott. The budding scientist mentioned above died from un diagnosed Leukemia not long after receiving a full scholarship to college. Despite these terrible circumstances of living in an area with such poverty and violence the youth who work at ECC, the students they teach, and the community they serve are making a positive difference. I am extremely grateful that they do.
DOES THIS INSPIRE YOU TO MAKE POSITIVE CHANGE IN YOUR COMMUNITY?
Would you start a petition, get help from a marketing firm to send out a PR about it, and stand outside the offices of a business you admire, but whose policies you dislike to ask for something better? Julia Bluhm did and she is just in the 8th grade! If this sounds like the kind of action you are willing to take to create positive change in the world than you are a Change Maker!
How to make change: 1) Educate yourself and then educate others with the truth. 2) Form a change maker group or team to make it happen. 3) Develop a plan and find more supporters.
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO CHANGE ABOUT THE WORLD?
DO YOU HAVE THE STRENGTH, THE KNOWLEDGE AND THE STAMINA TO MAKE IT HAPPEN?
Some of the great advice in this article is to listen to the opposing view, ask questions, and not be close minded. After you have listened to the other person than you may share your own knowledge, but don’t have expectations of automatic concession. We educate by sharing knowledge, not by asking others to blindly believe. It also goes both ways. You never know what you might learn. Empower yourself by holding your mind and heart open.
I found a great article on what our educational system needs written by a teenager who receives their education through home study. The article is on 
Individual Empowerment 