The Right to Education

Growing up, Helena Lucia didn't realize a science technology career was an option for a woman.

But on Saturday Lucia, 38, will receive her Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from Washington State University Vancouver. She's one of 915 students who will participate at WSU Vancouver's commencement exercises.

Lucia is the recipient of the Chancellor's Award for Student Achievement in recognition of her love of learning, overcoming barriers in pursuit of academic goals, leadership potential and involvement in campus life.

What do you think of when I say "education rights for girls"? Malala Yousafzai, the teenage human rights activist who nearly paid with her life for going to school? The Nigerian schoolgirls, whose kidnappers' name Boko Haram means "Western education is a sin"? 

Please read this article about my friend Helena, a single mother of four who is graduating this Saturday with a degree in Computer Science and launching what promises to be a rewarding career. I am so proud of Helena, and hope every young woman in the newspaper's territory, which is home to so many OALC families, reads this article. While the journalist chose not to mention Helena's upbringing, the biggest obstacle she faced was a cultural inheritance and indoctrination in dependency and self-denial.  (In conservative OALC families like mine, those of us who desired higher education had to go it alone, without emotional or financial support, and often with active disapproval and shunning. The only sanctioned choice was marriage and childbearing. Pretty much like some conservative Muslims in the news!)

I met Helena through this website seven years ago, and it has been a privilege to become her friend and watch her nurture the genderless qualities of courage, curiosity, and imagination, not only for herself but her wonderful children.

May she continue to inspire and support girls seeking an education. And may the kidnapped girls be quickly rescued, reunited with their grieving families, and allowed the self-determination that makes us fully free and human.

A Picture Worth 1,000 Words

For more information, go to www.facebook.com/humanodyssey

Letting Go

Thanks to Daisy for the following excerpt from "The Language of Letting Go" by Melody Beattie. I hope it is helpful to readers who are struggling with how to deal with their loved ones.

Picture a bridge. On one side of the bridge it is cold and dark. We stood there with others . . . doubled over in pain. Some of us developed an eating disorder to cope with the pain. Some drank; some used other drugs. Some of us lost control of our sexual behavior. Some of us obsessively focused on addicted people's pain to distract us from our own . . .   

We did not know there was a bridge. We thought we were trapped on a cliff. Then, some of us got lucky . . 

We saw the bridge. People told us what was on the other side: warmth, light, and healing from our pain. We could barely glimpse or imagine this, but we decided to start the trek across the bridge anyway,

Photo by John Mueller

We tried to convince the people around us on the cliff that there was a bridge to a better place, but they wouldn’t listen. They couldn’t see it . . . they were not ready for the journey. We decided to go alone, because we believed, and because people on the other side were cheering us onward. The closer we got to the other side, the more we could see, and feel, that what we had been promised was real. There was light, warmth, healing, and love. The other side was a better place.  

But now there is a bridge between us and those on the other side. Sometimes, we may be tempted to go back and drag them over with us, but it cannot be done. No one can be dragged or forced across the bridge. Each person must go at his or her own choice, when the time is right. Some will come; some will stay on the other side. The choice is not ours.  

We can love them. We can wave to them. We can holler back and forth. We can cheer them on, as others have cheered and encouraged us. But we cannot make them come over with us. If our time has come to cross the bridge, or if we have already crossed and are standing in the light and warmth, we do not have to feel guilty. It is where we were meant to be. We do not have to go back to the dark cliff because another’s time has not yet come.The best thing we can do is stay in the light, because it reassures others that there is a better place. And if others ever do decide to cross the bridge, we will be there to cheer them on. 

Today, I will move forward with my life, despite what others are doing or not doing. I will know it is my right to cross the bridge to a better life, even if I must leave others behind to do that. I will not feel guilty, I will not feel ashamed. I know that where I am now is a better place and where I’m meant to be.  

What about you? How do you let go?

Do You Travel?

When I graduated from college, I took my first trip to Europe with a borrowed backpack, a Rick Steves' guidebook, and a head full of poetry. That trip changed my life, and I returned with a very different view of myself, my country, the world, and my future.

Listening to Rick Steves in this interview, I wondered if people who love travel are unlikely to remain in Laestadianism. What about you?

What role has travel played in your life?

Open Thread

Have any questions you'd like answered, or topics you want to discuss? Please fire away!

To start things off, here's a question from a reader:

I was wondering if anyone has any idea what the reasons were for the split in the OALC church in Minneapolis in the early 70s.