Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.
Indeed, its the only thing that ever has. - Margaret Mead
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.
Indeed, its the only thing that ever has. - Margaret Mead
Lauren Embrey Remarks at May 31, 2011 Peace Patron Luncheon
Peace is not just freedom from war or the ending of war; it is also freedom from public disturbance, freedom from disagreement or quarrels; peace contains within it human security, harmony, and an undisturbed state of mind.
When I was growing up, I was separate from world happenings. I didn’t know what was going on outside of my limited world in Texas. There sat within my Texas world, contemplating only what was affecting our family’s immediate existence, how the world was treating “us,” what could make things better for “us” or those like “us.” There was a pride in who we were as a people, understood through our history and our culture, a pride not predicated by what we had done for others or how we gave of ourselves but of how we were commanding attention and how we were growing and gaining ground in our endeavors.
I experienced within my family structure a dominant patriarchal system that did not foster nor provide support for my personal growth and passions, support that would have opened the door to my vast possibility and potential at a much younger age. This, I feel, was/is due to the stereotypical views of gender held within our family belief system and our culture. Even at a young age, though I did not understand this, I saw the injustice very clearly.
I also witnessed the limiting, uneducated life of black people that was mandated by southern culture, a mandate that to me, even at a young age, was an unfair and unjust. I myself walked through life totally unaware of the white privilege of which I was apart and reaped the benefits. I was untouched by the violence created and the suppression imposed by this world view.
In my own personal analysis, based on these early life experiences, I feel I created a limited world without voice for myself and filled with goals below my capacity, fueled by a need for approval and acceptance, not passion, and coupled with a propensity for disassociation, a behavior that aided me in survival but kept me at arm’s length from the realities of this world and kept in place patterns that were not in my best interests or those in the world around me.
Many years later I was gifted with philanthropic work. I, most of the time growing up, felt out of place in Texas, I had always been a hippie, peace loving tree hugger at heart, but now I had the opportunity to truly get involved and make up for lost time.
Human rights work infused with the tenets of peace, non-violence, artistic creativity, justice and equality -- the right to live in dignity -- was a deliverance for me. This education threw open the doors of possibility for me and clarified for me that “I’m not crazy after all; there are people who think like I do and feel like the world can be a much better place, and these people actively engage in the world to make that happen.” WOW -- this is heaven!
We are now living a moment-to-moment conundrum because we live in the age of technology, where the world is at our fingertips. This technology has aided revolutions and brought the stories of voiceless peoples beyond our boundaries to the forefront, but at the same time it has been a haven for illicit businesses that exploit and destroy.
I ask myself, “How can I, how can anyone, sit by and watch when there is so much to do, so much opportunity for positive involvement, so much capacity for change?”
We need peace more than ever now. Pride and patriotism, misunderstandings and ignorance, non-acceptance -- all have pitted people against each other and fueled a new level of hate. Religions are at each other’s throats with self-righteousness and intolerance; women are being exploited and violated by men at unprecedented degrees; the proliferation of groups and organizations that promote hate are growing every year and are at an all time high.
I always ask myself, “What is going wrong? What is happening? Could it possibly be our deeply engrained belief systems holding us back? Our unwillingness to change? Is violence being normalized?”
I just got back from a conference in Canada -- Women Forging a New Security: Ending Sexual Violence in Conflict -- put on by The Nobel Women’s Initiative. The conference brought around 100 women, and a few men, together from 35 countries to have a discussion around the issue of sexual violence in conflict and what can be done about it. Of course, at the core of the discussion was the important element of non-violence and peace.
The Nobel Women’s Initiative was formed in 2006 by the 7 living female Nobel Peace Prize Laureates to bring forth their extraordinary experiences in a united effort to advocate for peace, justice and equality.
I would like to share with you comments made by the Laureates at this conference that struck me deeply and are aligned with my perspective. Jody Williams: “We need to reclaim the word ‘peace’ andits process and address the continuum of violence against women because every act of violence is a choice.” Shirin Ebadi: “We need to address the roots of violence and come up with a road map to overcome it.” Aung San Sui Kyi: “Violence starts in the mind -- emotional, intellectual and societal -- physical violence comes from this.” Mairead Maguire: “We need to have the courage to think in a completely different and new way; we need new perspectives, new wisdom. We need to rethink our whole mindset.”
We really can’t separate women from peace, can we? We are so deeply entwined. So what are the deterrents to peace? An ever increasing military; violence against women and children; monetary greed; a relinquishment of many to the negative form of power, power over; a lack of engaged advocacy and activism; a tendency to group in factions and to believe what we read see and hear without questioning; media sensationalism….and more.
But what are the factors that aid in the advancement of peace? Institutions researching and teaching peace like the Vivian Castleberry Peace Institute at UNT and the Embrey Human Rights Program at SMU, educating young people in human rights. Engaged activism and advocacy -- a willingness to step outside the dictates of the status quo and evaluate our own presence and existence in the world to see where our passions align for the greater good of all and a willingness to question long standing belief systems and ways of doing things and a desire to evaluate those systems and change them if necessary. The knowledge that collaboration, partnerships and a collective approach enhance impact. A desire to truly learn about others.
I want to thank our Texas foremothers: Barbara Jordan, Ann Richards, Louise Raggio, Vivian Castleberry. What courage, what voice, what strength of vision! What an inspiration for all of us sitting here today. I am left breathless when I think about those days, those days when I was so asleep. I think of what you were up against, of the fortitude, willingness and courage you all brought forth, not only to speak out for yourselves, for women and others, but to not accept the status quo, to put all your efforts forth to bring about change. Because of you, I am filled with admiration and a greater fire to continue to work, to promote and build upon that voice. I want to follow in your footsteps with that level of courage and strength, to stand for what I believe in, not caught up in worry about what others think. I want to live with true intent of purpose to do what I can to make the world a better place for all people.
I greatly appreciate being honored as a Peace Patron, and I pledge to continue, in partnership with all of you, to do what I can to promote human rights and peace in our world and to aid in bringing forth human security, harmony, and an undisturbed state of mind.
I would like to end by reading the poem I read at the Women’s eNews 21 Leaders Dinner. I feel is expresses how we all feel about the work that we do. I thank you all for being here to celebrate with me:
I will not live an unlived life.
I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire.
I choose to inhabit my days,
To allow my living to open me,
To make me less afraid,
more accessible,
To loosen my heart,
until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise.
I choose to risk my significance, to live so that which came to me as seed
goes to the next as blossom,
and that which came to me as blossom,
goes on as fruit.
-- Dawna Markova
