We Are All Connected
On personal responsibility and reclaiming human connection.
With much in today’s world seemingly headed the wrong way, it is easy to feel powerless. Why your voice matters, and how can each of us make a difference?This Sunday, join Ramsey Hanhan for a conversation on this topic, including poetry readings from his upcoming book, ‘Palestine Bleeds for You’.
A bit about Ramsey
Ramsey Hanhan is a Palestinian Canadian and author of two books: an autobiographical novel, Fugitive Dreams, and a book of poetry and essays on Gaza (coming soon). His short stories and poetry appear in The Harvard Advocate, Fikra magazine, and elsewhere. He also speaks publicly about Palestine, literature, nature, spirituality, and healing.
Ramsey was formerly a physics professor noted for his computer models that describe and predict complexity in nature. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and resides near Baltimore, Maryland.
Coming soon… watch the gathering here
Quotes
We are here to awaken from the illusion of our separateness. - Thich Nhat Hanh
Letting people enrich themselves from human suffering or the suffering of other beings is something we cannot do. … The only way out is to consume less. Once we are able to live simply and happily, we are better able to help others. - Thich Nhat Hanh
Readings
A poem by Ramsey Hanhan
A Manifesto Forbidding Silence. Who will speak for Gaza’s children if not you?
We are all culprits--
Every minute, another death!
How can we pretend?
nothing’s happening
act normal
watch the football game
take a vacation
chat about the latest stupid thing
a celebrity
has just done?
We are all culprits--
Including myself,
Living a settler’s life
Over here on stolen lands
. . .
Each month the population shrinks
Another percent:
water contaminated
diseases revived
bombs fall in safe zones
-- on tent cities
sheltering
desiccated infants
While we pretend
everything’s normal,
take a vacation
watch the football game
Suppressing
What we cannot control
We want to help
But don’t know how
So we pretend …
. . .
My face is tired
Of that droopy-eyed look
My jaw is aching
To breathe fire!
I’m about to burst
With rebuke
For everyone--
Including myself,
Living over here
A settler’s life
On stolen lands
Second Reading
“When my daughter was little, we liked to walk around the lake looking for signs of spring. She was invariably the one to find the first flower, spotting that tiny patch of yellow dandelion among the thousands of blades of grass. She loved blowing the seeds into the wind, unwittingly “ruining” the neighbors’ lawns.
The genocide the USA is supporting today in Gaza has very much to do with the daily mass-murder of plants and animals for the mere aesthetic appearance of what we call “civilization.” In order to shed its genocidal roots, America has to embrace Nature in all its diverse beauty. When we learn to love and admire the dandelion the way our children do, and respect that its right to life is no lesser than ours, we begin to restore our balance with nature, peace with each other, and climate stability.”
— Ramsey Hanhan, essay, “Genocide and America’s Obsession with Mowing the Lawn”
SPRING by Ramsey Hanhan
Colors
Intense
Reborn in
Light
Sharply striking shadows;
Symphonies
Of winged ones
Returning
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