Mary van Balen

SCULPTURE: Lament by Connie Butler

While I was hanging up pajamas at the store, the television above the entrance to the fitting rooms was tuned to CNN. Anchors spouted various polling percentages of disapproval of Obama's healthcare reform. When I returned to pull robes off the rack, the talk was about who the reform was helping and how repeal would contribute to the deficit.

"We are the only nation in the West that doesn't have healthcare for its citizens," a co-worker lamented. "I just don't GET these people.!"

My heart sank.

Breaking news later: a shooting in a LA high school; an earthquake in Pakistan.

Local news: a naked man, scratched and bleeding, had approached a home and begged the residents to let him in. Understandably, they were hesitant and called police. When they arrived, they could find no trace of the man. He was later found dead. Pictures of a tattoo were to be broadcast later in the hopes that someone would be able to identify him.

I ate dinner out this evening and read an alternative paper as I enjoyed Lebanese cuisine. The new governor, inheriting a financial crisis (as so many are), wants to cut services and benefits. No new taxes. I sighed. Working with poverty programs for years, I know some of those who will suffer most. Teaching for more years, I know that cutting frenzy reaches classrooms, too. How can we keep deluding ourselves that we can run a city, state, or country, without increased revenue?
Somewhere I read that Illinois governor is considering new taxes. The rest of the governors are "still in denial."

My heart fell lower still. Read More 

PHOTO: J. Scott Applewhite/AP

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
Psalm 46 (from President Obama's speech)

President Obama delivered a powerful speech in Tuscon yesterday as he remembered those killed and wounded in Saturday's shooting rampage and called Americans to respond to the tragedy in a way that would honor the victims. His words were eloquent and heartfelt. He spoke with the humility he recommended to all Americans.

After remembering each victim and recognizing those who assisted at the shooting scene and the medical staff who ministered to the wounded, Mr. Obama turned to inward reflection as well as the need to move forward. Read More 

IMAGE:Picasso Peace Dove Two


He himself will be peace.
Micah 5,4



These words, taken from today's mid-morning reading (Terce), speak a profound message to us as Christmas approaches. The world is filled with violence and injustice, from our own neighborhoods to countries on the other side of the planet.

Overwhelmed, we can become paralyzed or apathetic, not because we don't want to do something, but because we don't know what to do or where to start.  Read More 

PHOTO: Mary van Balen
I know the plans I have in mind for you – it is the Lord who speaks – plans for peace, not disaster, reserving a future full of hope for you. When you seek me you shall find me, when you seek me with all your heart. (from Mid-morning reading, Terce - Jeremiah 29:11,13)

Today's readings continue to bathe us in hope, or more accurately, reason to hope. The first reading from the Mass is Isaiah 29:17-24. Verse after verse declares freedom from oppression "for the tyrant shall be no more..." In these lines the blind see, the deaf hear, and "the meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord."

When most news we read today is filled with accounts of war, suffering, and injustice, Isaiah's words bring relief. I read them over and over, silently and out loud, and they were like cool water sliding down a parched throat. They allowed me to hope and to believe that hope for the poor and hurting in our world was possible. Not only possible, but sure. Not an empty promise but a reality whose time would come.
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PHOTO:Mary van Balen
Yesterday was a struggle. Perhaps, as my spiritual director suggested, this year's holiday season will be difficult. When she mentioned that a week ago, I was quick to respond: "Oh, I don't think so. I have been living on my own for close to two and a half years. Besides being legally recognized, not much has changed. I'll be fine."

She smiled, and knew better I suspect. This time last year my three daughters joined dad and me for Thanksgiving. This year, Dad is in a nursing home, and I baked a ham tonight to give him an alternative to turkey when my daughter and I have dinner with him at noon on Thursday. Later my daughter and I will visit one of my brothers and his wife. I need to be in bed early to be ready for work in at 4:45 am on Black Friday (Stay tuned for that one!).

Many times all three daughters have not been able to make it home for Thanksgiving. What is different this year is that there is no family home for them to return to, and there will not be again, at least not in the traditional understanding of "family home." Read More 

PHOTO:DEXA Bone Scan Image Rock Creek Imaging
At 8:30 am I was ushered into the ultrasound room for an inside look at liver, spleen, kidneys, and gall bladder. I watched the screen on my left as the technician skillfully rolled the transducer over my skin, and asked questions as shadowy images appeared. She explained which organs were which, showed me how she measured them, and interpreted bright colors as indicators of blood flow.

Less than fifteen minutes elapsed from beginning to end of the procedure which would provide my doctor with the information she had requested. I was prepared to find a breakfast spot with free WiFi (Fasting is required for the ultrasound.) to fuel up and write a blog before the next scheduled test: a dexa bone scan. Read More 

IMAGE: Artist Unknown
Last night I received a call from a good friend whose son suffers from chronic depression. He was not taking his medications and was sinking into a darker place than the one he usually inhabits.

After the call, I sat and let tears run down my cheeks. Another friend of mine has spent much of her income on medications and counseling, often doing without when disabilitly payments didn't cover the costs. Why are some of us afflicted with a disease that makes the moment by moment choice of life so conscious and excruciating? Life dishes out enough pain and suffering to challenge all of us. Why do some people have to face its difficulties already burdened? It's the Job question, I guess. Nothing new, but suffering is not rendered easier by its constancy throughout human history. Read More 

The news and images coming out of Haiti are devastating. How does a country,even with the help of nations around the world, cope with a natural disaster of this magnitude? Once aid arrives - food, water, medicine, personnel - how will it reach those who need it when Haiti's infrastructure, poor to begin with, is buried and tangled with rubble?

How do organizations and people charged with coordinating rescue and aid efforts put one foot in front of the other when chaos surrounds them? Where do they start? Do they work like Mother Teresa did, going out and picking up one dying person among hundreds of others?

This earthquake and its human toll focuses attention again on true poverty in our world, forcing those in wealthy countries to look at the uncomfortable truth of injustice and poverty that is easy to ignore most of the time. Our personal concerns pale in comparison to those of the people of Port au Prince tonight.

In Haiti, dead pile up in morgues and along the streets. Many survivors are afraid to go into homes and buildings left standing, fearing they, too, might collapse when aftershocks hit. Dazed,people wander the streets with no place to go. How do they cope in this country, poorest in the Western Hemisphere, and least equipped to handle this catastrophe? How does hope survive?

At times like these, when victims and those who seek to help both are overwhelmed, can we remember that God walks with us? Or believe that God exists? Even in the midst of unspeakable suffering some in Port au Prince must. In an AP article (Jan 14), correspondent Jonathan Katz writes of song rising from those huddled together as night falls. Their prayer is an unexpected one, like Job's from the dung heap: “Beni Swa Leternel.” “Blessed be the Lord.”


Many organizations are accepting monetary donations. Click here to make donation: Catholic Relief Services
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"Show me where it hurts, God said, and every cell in my body burst into tears before His tender eyes."
Rabia - Eighth-century Islamic saint and poet*

When I read these words I thought of two women: Precious, from the movie of the same name and a former student whose funeral I had attended earlier that day. One was black, one was white. One still lived, one was dead at twenty-nine. Both were sexually abused and led lives overwhelmed with challenges and battles that for one, proved insurmountable.

I watched the movie with a friend I had met while working with young women, all victims of abuse of one type or another. For many of them, abuse began with sexual molestation as young children. As we walked out of the screening room, I became aware of the color not only of those of us leaving, but also of the line of people waiting for the next showing.

"Where are the WHITE people?" I asked. I have been seeing movies at this art theater for years and had never seen such lack of diversity. Does the general public think "Precious" is a movie for a "black" audience? I hope not. "Must be a fluke," I thought to myself.

“Maybe not,” I thought after I spoke to a young friend a week later. She had seen the movie at a large, multi-screen complex in the middle of an upscale shopping center. After talking for a while about the importance of the film and how moving it was, I ventured to ask the same question: "I don't want to sound racist, but I am wondering about the people in the theater. Was it a diverse crowd?"

"No, not at all. First, it was smaller than I thought. And almost everyone there was African American."

Another fluke? I hope so. The themes dealt with in "Precious" transcend race, economic status, and nationality. Being poor and Black complicates things in our society, but the reality of abuse knows no boundaries, and sadly, no one culture seems any better at dealing with it than another.

"In Black culture people sweep things like this under the rug," my young friend said. "Everybody wants to keep it a secret, and more and more people get hurt."

"All cultures sweep abuse under the rug," I replied. "Look at the Catholic Church; it did just that for years. Why? To protect the institution, the status quo? And the Church isn't alone. In some sick way, no one wants to look at and admit the scope of abuse or deal with its consequences."

That thought was reinforced when I read a newspaper article the following day about the lack of funding for women's shelters. Many abused women and their children are turned away, forced to return to lives increasingly scarred by domestic violence. In the coming year, more shelters will close, endangering hundreds of others.

We have to ask hard questions: Why is there insufficient funding to protect the most vulnerable among us? Why do we assign this problem to a particular race, faith, or nationality (usually not our own) when it exists everywhere? Why are we willing to avert our eyes rather than confront the truth?

"Precious" forces us to see a broken society and inadequacies of services for those in desperate need. The movie reveals the importance of good teachers in seemingly impossible situations. It makes us squirm when stereotypical reactions to obesity are challenged. It teaches us to look beyond surface realities to causes. It allows us to know a real human being that most of us would be happy to pass on the street and never see again. “Precious” reveals our common humanity and the dignity of those we are tempted to "write off" as a “drain on society.”

Every person has truths to teach, especially people from whom we expect little or nothing. Through all the pain, injustice, and suffering, “Precious” shows us courage, tenacity, and amazingly, hope, whose name is Love.
© 2009 Mary van Balen

* From “Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West.” trans. Daniel Ladinsky. New York: Penguin, 2002. p 2. Read More 

LINKS:
2009 Nobel Peace Prize Citation Obama's remarks: Christian Science Monitor "Common Misconceptions about the Nobel Peace Prize" "Gasps as Obama awarded Nobel Peace Prize" AP article by Ritter and Moore President Obama's UN Speech




News of President Obama receiving the Nobel Peace Prize energized me for the day. “Hope” is the word I would use to describe my reaction, hope for the possibility of change in the political climate of the world, and in this country. Hope for “the common good” becoming a guiding principle in policy and decisions.

In the citation awarding the prize (see link), the spokesperson for the Nobel Committee said Obama was chosen in part “…for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” He was also recognized for creating “…a new climate in international politics,” and his call to those who listened to his U.N. speech in April (see link) that “Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global problems.”

Some people are saying that this is too early in Obama’s presidency to award him such an honor. “He hasn’t done anything yet,” they say. Others think the Nobel Committee’s choice cheapens the prize. “It is usually given to a person who has achieved something concrete,” they say. In an article by the Associated Press, Geir Lundestad, the secretary of the Nobel Committee, said that is not true, and that more often, it is given to encourage the recipient to continue their work, sometimes at “critical moments.” (see link: Common Misconceptions)

Surely, this is a critical moment at home and abroad. The issues we face are momentous: arms control, climate change, wars, terrorism, poverty, and genocide, to name some. As Obama has said, these challenges cannot be met by a single person or nation. They require the cooperation of all nations, of all peoples.

That is what I found hopeful about the Nobel Committee’s choice of President Obama. They have put the prestige and international stature of the prize behind Obama’s efforts to rally leaders of nations and ordinary citizens to accept responsibility and become involved in making a difference in our world. The committee members see the promise in Obama's vision. Awarding this prize to the one they see as “the world’s leading spokesman”(see link, Citation) for such an approach, sends a message to the world: This is possible. Let us put aside differences, see what binds us together, and move forward to bring peace and justice.

A surprised and humble Obama said as much when he spoke to reporters in the Rose Garden this morning: “I will accept this award as a call to action, a call for all nations to confront the challenges of the 21st century…Let me be clear, I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments, but rather as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations.”

I send my congratulations to President Obama for engendering hope and providing leadership in the worldwide search for peace. My prayer is that people of this country and the world will be encouraged anew to work for peace in their hearts, their families, their cities. Peace is a “bottom up” endeavor. It ripples out from individual efforts no matter how small, and makes a difference. Such efforts, multiplied millions of times over, will be what enable Obama and world leaders to achieve this goal. In the end, they represent us and our commitment to justice and peace.

Neither detractors nor supporters of Obama and his policies can sit back and wait to see whether he succeeds or fails. That would be an abdication of responsibility. As the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committe, Thorbjoern Jangland, said, "If everything goes wrong, then one cannot say that this was because of Barack Obama. It could be that it is because of all of us, all the others, that did not respond." (see link, Gasps...)

The possibility for the success of Obama's call for cooperation and action based on shared human values lies not only in his hands and the hands those in positions of power, but also in the hearts of ordinary people in the United States and around the world who make known by word and action their desire for it.
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