{"id":9399,"date":"2019-04-28T19:08:55","date_gmt":"2019-04-28T23:08:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wtb.org\/?p=9399"},"modified":"2019-05-20T19:49:47","modified_gmt":"2019-05-20T23:49:47","slug":"a-celebration-of-the-other-apr-28","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/?p=9399","title":{"rendered":"A Celebration of &#8220;the Other&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We celebrated things we admire in other faiths and cultures on Apr. 28 at the home of our co-founder Betsy Wiggins. It was an informal spring celebration and Women Transcending Boundaries&#8217; last meeting until September. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The skies were dreary as women arrived at the lovely home of co-founder Betsy Wiggins bringing colorful flowers, tempting foods, hugs and smiles. We brought a rich history of experiences to share\u2014both in terms of our cultures and faiths and our experiences with WTB. It was lovely to see new faces and welcome back some who were part of WTB\u2019s inception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bright\nflowers already dotted Betsy\u2019s home heralding spring. We placed our flowers for\nthe exchange in the kitchen nook and our edible contributions on the\nlace-draped table in the dining room. Several of us made a large circle of chairs\nand couches before the fireplace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">President\nSue Savion opened the meeting welcoming all warmly. Joy read our Mission Statement;\nSue read some guidelines for speaking and listening as well as our WTB Safe\nPlace Declaration. She also shared a thank you letter from Karen of the Eastern\nFarm Workers Association thanking those of us who had donated baby supplies to\none of their members. Sue explained we would enjoy food and sharing stories.\nWTBs theme this year has been \u201cUnderstanding the Other\u201d; later, we would be\ninvited to share something that we admire from a culture\/religion different\nfrom our own. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We filled\nour plates with savory and sweet treats of all descriptions\u2014 homemade black\nbean soup, bright vegetables, fresh fruits, and tempting baked goods\u2014and\nreassembled in the living room circle to share our thoughts. Each person in the\ncircle was invited to share something she most admired about a religion\/culture\nnot her own.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It was\ninteresting that as women answered the question, many candidly shared their\npersonal faith journeys. Among us were Roman Catholic, Protestant, Unitarian\nUniversalist, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Methodist, various\ndenominations of Protestants, Conservative and Reformed Jews, Muslim, agnostic,\nand those identifying as simply children of God. Many of us were raised in one\ntradition but had traveled through others in route to a conversion later in\nlife. Some blend aspects of more than one faith in their spiritual lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It was also\ninteresting to hear the things we admired in other faiths. I found myself\nsilently agreeing as others gave voice to values that resonate deeply. &nbsp;A sampling:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Jewish: sense of family, unity, and\ndevotion to community<\/li><li>Islam: opening Iftar celebrations to\nthe whole community, inviting those of different faiths to celebrate with them<\/li><li>Native American traditions: God has no\ngender, every day is treated as Thanksgiving, and adults tell stories to help\nchildren learn\/grow<\/li><li>Islam: deep sense of hospitality,\ndevotion of praying 5 times a day, and \u201cbig, loving hearts\u201d <\/li><li>Unitarian Universalism: inclusiveness\nwhich affirms principles rather than demand adherence to any specific religious\ndoctrine <\/li><li>Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day\nSaints: commitment to service in the community and emphasis on action in the\nworld as a way of showing the light of Christ<\/li><li>Islam: hospitality and welcoming the\nstranger as evidenced by the five families who founded and support Rahma, a\nfree health clinic on the Syracuse\u2019s south side open to all regardless of ability\nof pay<\/li><li>Pagan\/Wiccan: their motto \u201cDo No Harm,\u201d\nhonoring the cycles of the Earth, and practicing the Golden Rule <\/li><li>Zen Buddhism: commitment to\nnon-violence and the peace it brings its practitioners.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Several\nwomen spoke about the recent rise in hate crimes and the cycle of ignorance begetting\nviolence leading to fear and hate. Several pleaded for opportunities to reach\nout and learn more about other faiths\/cultures and hoped education would change\nattitudes in the next generation. Some personal stories illustrated how\ndifficult it can be to take a stand against discrimination and hate, and the\nrisks assumed by those who do stand up for what is just. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Betty Lamb\nthanked Sue Savion for her dedication and leadership over her two -year tenure\nas President of WTB. Enthusiastic and appreciative applause followed!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As the\nmeeting adjourned, Sue reminded us to select a plant from the flower exchange.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We celebrated things we admire in other faiths and cultures and brought a flower or plant to share on Apr. 28 at the home of our co-founder Betsy Wiggins.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":9476,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[20],"class_list":["post-9399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-programs","tag-dialogue",""],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9399"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9503,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9399\/revisions\/9503"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wtb.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}