Winds of Peace Foundation

Steve Sheppard | July 26, 2010

I spoke the other day with someone who reads my blog entries with some regularity (which, I explained to her, is reason enough to question her judgment).  But she said that she enjoys reading the occasional news of Nicaragua and also the reflections that I make from having traveled there periodically.  She did offer one concern, however.  She observed that for every mention I  make about something positive or inspirational that’s happening with our partners, there might be two stories that are seemingly full of discouraging news, even bordering on despair.  And she asked the question, as if I could even possibly have the answer: “I just wonder, sometimes, whether it’s even OK to feel happy when all these difficulties go on in places like Nicaragua.”

Whether she really intended for me to offer a response or not, I wasn’t sure.  But I had one in mind, whether she wanted it or not.  It’s the response I’ve arrived at many times over the years to my own contemplation of the question.

Concepts of happiness or hunger or poverty are relative, of course.  One family’s wealth might well represent another family’s poverty; one family’s good fortune might be another family’s plight.  We’re all on a giant continuum, where everyone’s position is relative to everyone else’s position.  When I gaze up to the top of that continuum and wonder what it must be like for Bill Gates to have all that he has, someone else along that continuum is looking up at me, and asking the same question.    And our realities can change at any given moment in time. If circumstances suddenly line up just wrong, any of us might experience a very sudden shift of position along that continuum, our feelings shifting from happiness to hurt.  Simply reflect upon the changed circumstances of many people in the U.S. over the past several years to affirm such possible reverses of fortune. 

Since we are all on this continuum somewhere, of course it’s natural and healthy to feel happiness.  We take from our lives the good things that we find and celebrate them, both for the gratitude we feel and the recognition that things could be a whole lot worse!  We can readily see what it’s like for many others who are not so fortunate.  Every day contains elements for which we have cause for happiness, and we’re well-served when we take the time to look for them. 

What I suggested to my friend was that in the midst of our happiness, our celebrations, we not lose sight of another reality.  It’s that continuum I mentioned above.  It’s sort of like when I traveled to Budapest, Hungary some years ago.  I was delighted by my surroundings and the wonderful people I met.  But I recognized that my enjoyment would have been that much greater had my wife, Katie, been able to accompany me.  Likewise, during a stunning visit to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks earlier this summer, our amazement was only tempered by realization of how much our children would have enjoyed the experience had they accompanied us.  It’s not that we can’t feel happiness or contentment.  It’s that we recognize that there could be so much more. 

In whatever ways we are blessed, in whatever ways we feel affirmed and fortunate and healthy, we are never quite as happy as we could be “if only….”   If only the rest of the world was “in synch,” or fully present, or not so unhealthy, so needful, so much in despair, then we might experience even greater happiness or contentment ourselves.    Simply, it is not possible for any of us to reach our full well-being as long as others around us- both literally and figuratively- are absent, in distress or otherwise not well. 

So is it OK to feel happy about anything?  I say yes, and without hesitation.  But in the midst of my joy, it’s also OK to recognize the limitations on my happiness that stem from the people all around me.  How ironic that, in order for me to achieve maximum happiness in my own life, I must take into account the well-being of others….

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Steve Sheppard | July 18, 2010

Like most U.S. citizens, I enjoyed the Fourth of July earlier this month, as a mid-summer landmark, a point to pause and reflect on the amazing good fortunes that we have in this country, to think about the sacrifices by so many people that have made our freedoms possible, and to remember July 4th family gatherings from years ago.  Even the persistent summer rains could not extinguish the warmth of such fond memories. 

Yet the truth of our living is that it continually spawns new insights and memories, the ones that I might recall in years to come.  And so it was on the Fourth of July this year that I thought about the phrase “Independence Day” and all that it conveys about freedom, our country, the world and our lives.  While the thoughts were not necessarily the relaxing kind that one might associate with a summer holiday, they nonetheless found sanctuary in my mind as I listened to and enjoyed the persistent rains on my roof.

Independence.  We celebrate first the independence won from England in the Revolutionary War.  Those early patriots recognized the life-smothering effects of tyranny and simply would not accept it; they acted on their own behalf, but on ours, as well.  We are fiercely proud of the independence that we have portrayed as the world’s bellwether of personal liberty.  We love the idea of being a nation which, blessed with every natural resource and the spirit to explore, has crafted the persona of being able to “go it alone,” to live within and for ourselves as we have needed.  We treasure the right to wake up in the morning and do whatever our whims might dictate within the laws of the land.  The ability to be free from influences outside of ourselves is a heady gift which few people in history have known, and for that we feel both pride and gratitude on this summer day each year.  Our independence and freedom are concepts that have become so revered that we invoke them whenever we need a ready endorsement for a national action: if it’s in the name of independence and freedom, it must be good.  And we say that we believe all the world should have this same, freeing independence, that it might even be our destiny to spread it.

But during an afternoon walk in the rain, I thought about the nature of freedom, and especially as it pertains to people in other places, other cultures, with other histories.  If freedom is real- and not simply a refrain used by governments- then by definition people living in freedom cannot be told how to live by anyone else, the U.S. included.  By whatever means they may have at their cultural disposal, such people must chart their own ways.  As soon as any outside entity prescribes changes to the way those people live, the idea of freedom falls away.  It’s ironic, but to impose freedoms on any society but our own constitutes a loss of freedom for that society.  Free to choose means just that: free to choose freedom or not.

The counter to this conundrum is obvious, of course: if a society is not free to choose, then they have no opportunity to embrace freedom.  So how can a captive population even consider what freedom might look like unless it is somehow forced upon them from the outside, which by definition is not freedom?  The answer may be that he cultivation of freedom is something which is only truly achieved from inside, even when the environment for growing may be hostile.

I was thankful for the rain to cool down these heated arguments in my head!  But in the end I concluded that freedom is like mercury: it is a wonderful element, difficult to grasp, and potentially dangerous in the way it is spread….

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Steve Sheppard | July 7, 2010

If you’ve visited the Winds of Peace website in the past and/or read from my observations in this blog, you are familiar with the Genesis Cooperative in Ciudad Sandino.  With help and guidance from the Center for Development in Central America (CDCA), this largely women’s cooperative has emerged from a mere dream to the threshold of viability in the form of an organic cotton spinning plant.  They have built an incredible facility by hand (see June 21 entry here), they have weathered the vagaries of Nicaraguan law in achieving their registration, they’ve even withstood the claims of unscrupulous neighbors who have tried to illegally wrest the ownership of the property for themselves.  If ever there was an organization that deserved and earned a break, it is Genesis.

But sometimes even the most persistent and patient reach a breaking point, and that could be on the horizon for these inspirational people.  The spinning equipment, which is to be shipped from Venezuela, has continued to run into delays and pitfalls, none of which are of the coop’s making.  First there was a problem with the size of the containers that the equipment broker provided.  That generated the need for more funds.  Then the Venezuelan government ran into port inspection problems and instituted national guard inspections, which backlogged all port traffic.  Now the equipment broker could be headed for bankruptcy, further complicating the equipment flow.  In short, equipment which was scheduled for installation last December is still awaiting transport to Nicaragua. 

And behind it all, the women wait.  Without opportunity to earn money but with their very lives invested in their cooperative venture, the women and their families have waited out the process for about as long as they can.  But children need to be fed.  So do adults.  Basic needs still cost money, even when you’re engaged in a noble undertaking.  And the women draw ever closer to the break point, when they will be forced to give up on their dream and seek work and income elsewhere, just to survive.

CDCA has put out a call for “bridge assistance” for these entrepreneurs who are desperately trying to transform their dreams, toils and commitments into a meaningful, long-term business created by and for themselves.  Funding for some very minimal, basic food needs are being sought for the coop members until such time as the equipment is installed and operational. 

Winds of Peace intends to help.  And while it is not our practice to tout giving opportunities, I can provide more information to you or you can visit www.jhc-cdca.org if you have interest.   At the very least, remember the tenuous tightrope these women are walking in their efforts to make their own way.  They have a lot at risk, including their very selves….

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