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By Mom Unplugged, June 4, 2008 9:54 pm

My Dona Nobis Pacem post was a tad on the dark side this time. These days it is hard for me to think of peace and not free-associate with “gloomy.”

But one positive post that really struck me was by RennyBA from Norway. You should all go and read his words.

His point is that we, as bloggers, can make a difference in this world. He argues that there is a relationship between “peace” and “blogging.” Blogging connects people, and since it creates connections, it MUST ultimately lead to peace. I like that argument.

• I like the fact that I can read the words of people all over the world and respond to those words.
• I like it that people from all over the US join in the weekly Unplugged Project, as well as Spain, Canada, the UK, Taiwan, and Fiji so far. We leave our differences behind and all come together once a week in a common endeavor benefiting our children.
• I like it that Renny, half a world away in Norway, can lift my spirits here in rural Arizona, USA.

Most people are wonderful.

Small epiphanies like this are why I blog.

Thank you Renny!

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Comments (15)

By Mom Unplugged, June 4, 2008 12:01 am

Apparently UNESCO and the United Nations declared the first ten years of this new millennium a Decade for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence for the Children of the World. Well, since we are eight years into our “Decade for a Culture of Peace,” I guess I missed that bit of news, and so did the rest of the world it seems.

My two oldest children are now 5 and 7. They have lived their whole lives during this era of a “Culture of Peace.” Without TV, they don’t see the images of war, but they are old enough to notice the words spoken on NPR.

I wish that the words I was having to explain were words of peace, as the UN and UNESCO had hoped: harmony, diversity, love, friendship. Unfortunately what they are asking about is bombs, Iraq, Afghanistan, terrorists, suicide. It could be worse: they haven’t yet inquired about torture, rape, beheading, water boarding … and more importantly, they aren’t living all these horrible words as many children are all over the world.

My parents both grew up in England during WWII. They knew war as more than mere words on a radio. They lived it every day of their childhoods. Air raids, bombs, blackouts, gas masks, shelters, barrage balloons, and shrapnel were part of their daily vocabulary and experience.

Will there ever come a day when those words of horror and violence will be mere ghoulish historical curiosities such as words like guillotine, drawing and quartering, the rack, and the iron maiden?

I want children to grow up learning a vocabulary of peace. As much as I would wish it to be otherwise, it seems unlikely that those fortunate souls will be my children. I simply must hope that some future generation will know the common horrible words of our era only as mere historical remnants of a more violent and primitive time.

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Please visit Mimi’s Blog for a master list of all the peace posts that will be written today by bloggers from all over the world.

Peace be with you.

Comments (6)

By Mom Unplugged, June 2, 2008 10:04 pm

One thing I am coming to realize is that without TV in my life (going on 7 years now), I have become extremely sensitive to noise.

Of course sometimes I am in the mood for some music to lift my spirits, or a podcast to fire up my lazy neurons, and I always try to listen to the morning and evening news on NPR in order to feel informed.

But quite honestly, more often than not, these days I choose silence.

I like to hear the furnace turning on and off, the cockatiels making their happy beak-grindings before they drift off for a nap, the wind rustling the tall pines that surround my house, the squeak of the living room floor in that one particular place as I walk across it.

I find that if I am surrounded by extraneous sounds all day, even if it is merely the pleasant melody of music, I get crabby and fatigued.

This post won’t change the world. It’s just a random thought about life without TV.

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(Photo thanks to morguefile.com and photographer Wally Irwin.)

Comments (1)

By Mom Unplugged, May 31, 2008 10:12 pm

I heard a wonderful quote this evening on NPR’s All Things Considered. It is from Dwight Eisenhower, and perfectly fits the spirit of the BlogBlast for Peace:

“I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of their way and let them have it.”

Twice a year Mimi Lenox hosts the BlogBlast for Peace. She explains it better than I can, so please read this excerpt from Mimi’s blog:

Welcome to BlogBlast For Peace - The Fourth Launch! Dona Nobis Pacem is Latin for “Grant Us Peace”. The Peace Globe project began in the fall of 2006 with a simple post from this blog. The post ignited a flame in the blogosphere. The flame became a passion. The passion became a movement. It amazingly travelled from blog to blog across the globe until it reached 35 countries and 46 states. BlogBlast for Peace is a semi-annual blog event. It happened on my blog. It happened on your blog. It happened all over the world. It is positively inspiring to watch. The simplicity of three Latin words on a globe and bloggers writing amazing articles on what peace means to them.
Simple. And powerful.

On June 4, 2008 bloggers from all across the globe will blog for peace. We will speak with one voice. One subject. One day.

I’ll be publishing my third Dona Nobis Pacem peace post on June 4th. Do you care to join me and bloggers from all over the world? Your post doesn’t have to be anything profound. In fact, if you are completely speechless, then why not just “fly” your “peace globe” on the 4th? The point is to join in somehow and let your voice be heard.

Click here to find out how to create your own “peace globe” and have it numbered and displayed in Mimi’s gallery.

If you want to read the peace posts from my archives, then here they are:

June 2007
and
November 2007 (10 Ideas for Fostering International Understanding in Your Kids).

I hope to see you on June 4th!

(Graffiti photo thanks to morguefile.com and photographer clarita)

Comments (6)

By Mom Unplugged, May 30, 2008 8:54 pm

The Meme of Fives

I was recently tagged by Toddler Mom Maureen for the Meme of Fives. Since I am notoriously bad at remembering to respond to tags, I thought I’d better get to this one right away. Plus, I have never done it before and it looked rather fun! Thanks Maureen!

The rules:
1. Post the rules of the game at the beginning.
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. At the end of the post, the player then tags five people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read the player’s blog.
4. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

What were you doing five years ago?

Running around after a two year-old and a one year-old.

What are five things on your to-do list for today?

1) Put out my hummingbird feeder since the hummers are back.
2) Laundry (ho hum).
3) Give my cockatiels a squirt-bottle bath since the weather is warm.
4) Buy fresh potting soil and fill my outside pots.
5) Did I mention laundry?

What are five snacks you enjoy?

1) Anything chocolate - I find chocolate to be especially necessary around 2PM.
2) Whole wheat pita with hummus (nutritious too!)
3) Doritos (NOT nutritious so I simply can’t have them in the house)
4) Any kind of cheese (I have never met a cheese I didn’t like)
5) Pickled onions (that’s the British in me coming out)

What are five things you would do if you were a billionaire?

Hmm…this one is tough because I don’t think my habits would change much, but I’ll try and answer.

1) Give a donation large enough to expand my children’s small but wonderful Montessori school through high school (it is now only to grade 4).
2) Set up a no-kill shelter for stray cats.
3) Be a space tourist and experience zero-G’s!
4) Buy a house in Hawaii for my sister and visit her often!
5) Spin a globe and go to the spot where my finger lands, no matter how remote (provided it is not in the middle of an ocean of course).

What are five of your bad habits?

I only get to pick five?

1) A constant desire to sleep late (unfortunately unfulfilled now that I have children). I am NOT a morning person.
2) Caffeine, especially in the form of tea.
3) I don’t drink enough water.
4) I hate to exercise.
5) Not putting away the clean laundry often enough. It sits in baskets around my house for days.

What are five places where you have lived?

1) France (Paris and Rouen)
2) Germany (Hamburg)
3) Oswego, NY
4) Albuquerque, NM
5) New Haven, CT

What are five jobs you’ve had?

1) Flight attendant
2) Lear jet pilot
3) Flight instructor
4) Lawyer
5) French tutor

Five people I tag:

1) Heather of Celtic Mommy
2) Michie of Seeking Imperfection
3) Gattina of Writer Cramps and My Cats and Funny Stories
4) Kate of Homeschooling in the Garden State
5) Yarrow of Yarrow of Witchwood

If any of you have done this before or would rather not do it, then please feel free to ignore the tag. My feelings will not be hurt!

7 Random Facts

I was tagged way back in February by Tomtemama for the 7 Random Facts Meme, and then again in April By Michie of Seeking Imperfection. Thank you both for thinking of me, but I am very embarrassed that it has taken me this long to respond. Sorry!

I did do this meme about a year ago (only it was 8 Random Facts back then) and since very few of you who read Unplug Your Kids these days probably knew me back then, I think I’ll just be lazy and republish my “facts” (which should be “random” or “weird” according to the instructions):

1. I have dual US/UK citizenship and am an Aquarius.

2. I have been an exchange student twice: a summer in Oslo, Norway at age 16 and, after having graduated from high school a year early, a year in Rouen, France at age 17. I also spent my junior year of college in Hamburg, Germany, but please don’t write to me in German! My French is good, my German (except for a few choice unpublishable words) has mostly disappeared.

3. I was an Air France flight attendant for two years so I have been to a lot of unusual places. My friend Wishy says that I am the only person she has ever met who can start a sentence with “On my way to Burundi….”

4. As a child I broke both my big toes and received absolutely no sympathy from my doctor-father. My sister thinks she has cuter toes than I do, but I disagree.

5. My car has a license plate frame that says: “A Woman’s Place is in the Cockpit” (I am a pilot).

6. I am “not the cheerleader-type,” as my mother used to say. Nor am I a jock. I guess I am an introverted nerd.

7. My secret favorite movie is “Dirty Dancing” because I wish I could dance with Patrick Swayze (who I actually once saw on a ski slope at Santa Fe, NM!).

8. I hate white walls in my house. All my walls are a color.

I am supposed to tag seven people, but I am not sure who has done this and who has not, so I will simply allow anyone who wants, to tag themselves. Please let me know in the comments if you want to do it, so I can stop by and read all about YOU!

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Photos thanks to morguefile.com and photographers: “5″ - imelenchon, and “7″ - keyseeker.