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Well, one violent regime is ousted by means of violence.
And many people are dead and others are dying everyday. And yet our calls for peace are being shunned by main stream media. And pro-war folks are trying to make the call for peace into a shameful thing. My calls for peace have nothing to do with my support for the troops. I support them -- I want them home alive. As Country Joe is famous for saying, "Blaming the troops for war is like blaming firemen for fire." And that certainly isn't what calls for peace are all about.
Behind the scenes here at KotaPress, we've been slowly changing our format and content to reflect more of the Poetry Therapy philosophies I've been writing about for several years now. We are still offering the art, but we are also offering other, more-news-oriented items. We'll be sharing more insights into our own KotaPress works -- such as the websites we are building, the books we are publishing, the print materials we have available, the classes we are teaching. All of that work is being done as expression for grief and healing in our lives. We are trying to find peaceful ways to express whatever comes up for artists or bereaved parents or children with whom we are working. We are trying to call for peace in the everyday ways of life.
We cannot win peace and respect on this planet by fighting violence with violence. Wars don't work. Wars kill people. Wars kill the "good guys" and the "bad guys." And no one wins. We saved people from a "bad regime" and now there are photos all over the news of children begging on the streets for water as they starve and dehydrated to death. How does that help them?
So we here at KotaPress are calling for peace. A stop to war. A stop to domestic violence. A stop to the neglect of bereaved parents.
We are calling for peaceful expressions through art, through poetry. Go ahead, be raw, be real, tell me everything that is happening for you. But express it through poetry, not through the barrel of your gun. You don't know how to get started, fine. Take a look at the writing classes we offer and take one of them. Look at Creativity and Grief. Take the class. Look at BodyWrites! and take the class. You feel alone in your grief, fine. Take a look at the books we offer here. Don't be angry alone -- read about other parents who also lost children, who also fought cancer, who also have had to make the trek back to the world-at-large in peaceful ways. You have conflict in your family, fine. Take a look at the support materials here and offer them to your family as a way to open discussion and loving honesty about your lives together.
If you are a professional, get sensitivity training for your employees. If you are a social worker, tell the bereaved parents in your care about the MISS Foundation annual conference and about their website where they can find support.
It starts with each of us, one at a time. If someone is suffering, then help them. And here at KotaPress, we hope to help by offering a space for expression. You have some writing you've done or art you've created to work through the darker moments? Some expression of peace? Some questioning of the "violence solves violence" ridiculousness of our world? Then send it in. Be a part of a peaceful solution!
And as the world evolves, so does KotaPress. As our format blossoms here, we hope you'll continue to read and find small bits of support from us. As always, be in touch whenever you like!
Miracles to you,
Kara
L.C. Jones, Dakota's Mommy
Editor-In-Chief, KotaPress
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