The Messenger - Editorial: The Great Silent Grandmother Gathering

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Editorial: The Great Silent Grandmother Gathering

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Written by Joann Turner

Arise all women
who have hearts,
whether our baptism
be that of water or of tears!

Gather the Women

The Standing Women concept originated with a number of women associated with Ohio State University. Over the last year we felt women everywhere are weary about where the world is moving and, more importantly, women everywhere are ready to stand up and do something about it. We also know many men, too, are ready to stand up.

In 2006, we came across the origins of Mother’s Day in the U.S. from Jean Shinoda Bolen’s book Urgent Message from Mother: Gather the Women, Save the World.

Julia Ward Howe issued the original Mother’s Day Proclamation in 1870:

“Arise, then, women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts, whether our baptism be that of water or of tears!

Say firmly: ‘We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience. We women of one country will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.’

From the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own. It says ‘Disarm, Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.’ Blood does not wipe our dishonor, nor violence indicate possession. As men have often forsaken the plow and anvil at the summons of war, let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead. Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each bearing after their own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar, but of God.

In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a general congress of women without limit of nationality be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, the great and general interests of peace.”

After reading this proclamation we began to feel we needed to do something this Mother’s Day, May 13, 2007.

After listening to us, Jean Shinoda Bolen shared with us a little book––the original version of The Great Silent Grandmother Gathering by Sharon Mehdi. We knew this was what we had to do.

We had to call together the women of the world to stand together to save the world, to save our children.

• • • •

For the purpose of the Great Silent Grandmother Gathering - now sweeping the country and the world – please look at the site and participate with your family and friends on May 13th - Mother’s Day - to hold the vision:

www.standingwomen.org

For more info, also see:
• www.standingwomen.org
• www.standintheparkforpeace.org
• www.grandmotherbook.com
• www.newdimensions.org

The women of Ohio call upon the women of the world to stand with us to save the world. Sharon Mehdi wrote a wonderful short story for her five-year old granddaughter, The Great Silent Grandmother Gathering has inspired us. A summary of the story:

A busboy working in a café whose window faced the public park noticed two grandmotherly looking women had been standing in the park all day without moving at all and without talking. They were dressed up in their Sunday best and were just staring at the town hall. He asked the other patrons in the café what they thought the women were up to. A five-year old year who was in the café spoke up and said “One of them is my grandmother and I know what they are doing. They are standing there to save the world.” All of the men in the café hooted and howled and laughed. On his way home the busboy decided to ask the women what they were doing and sure enough their answer was “We are saving the world.”

Over dinner that evening the busboy told his parents and he and his father hooted and howled, but his mother was totally silent. After dinner, the mother called her best friends to tell them.

The next morning the busboy looked out the café window and the two women were back, along with his mother, her friends, and the women who had been in the café the day before. All were standing in silence staring at the town hall. Again, the men hooted and howled and said things like “You can’t save the world by standing in the park. That is what we have armies for,” and “everyone knows you have to have banners and slogans to save the world--you can’t do it by just standing in the park.”

The next day the women were joined by the women who were in the café the day before and a number of their friends. This brought the local newspaper reporter to the scene. He wrote a derisive article about the women. The day after it appeared, hundreds of women showed up to stand in the park in silence. The mayor then told the police chief to make the women leave because they were making the town appear to be foolish. When the police chief told them they would have to disperse because they didn’t have a permit, one of them responded that “we are just individuals standing in our public park and we are not giving speeches or having a demonstration so why would we need a permit.” The police chief thought about this and agreed with them and left the park.

At this point 2,223 women including the mayor’s wife, the police chief’s wife, and one five-year old girl were standing in the park to save the world. The news quickly spread and soon women were standing all over the country. The story ended with women standing in every country throughout the globe, standing to save the world. See www.grandmotherbook.com.
See also pages 2 & 8 for more info.

After May 13, What Next?
Women’s Intercultural Network
www.win-cawa.org
www.GatherTheWomen.org
www.MillionthCircle.org
www.CircleConnections.com
www.PeaceXPeace.org
www.Unifem.org
U.S. Women Connect www.uswc.org
www.StandUpAndVote.org/partners.html
www.One.org

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