Dalai Lama in Derry-Cultivating Compassion

Be kind where possible and it’s always possible. Dalai Lama

The rain was spitting and the wind was messing with the umbrellas while tight security sifted through handbags and confiscated water bottles from old and young yesterday as 2500 people filed into the Embrington Plaza, Derry-Londonderry to hear Richard Moore and His Holiness the Dalai Lama speak on “The Culture of Compassion.”

The event was organised by the Children in Crossfire charity that helps children in war zones across the world. As serendipity would have it, I was one of the 2500. The mood inside the blackened arena was upbeat, celebrity and moving as we watched, via video link, 300 local primary school children form a guard of honour on the Peace Bridge for His Holiness, Richard Moore, Bishop Ken Good and Monsignor Eamon Martin leading the Peace Walk as a splash of sunshine escaped from the rain-filled threatening sky. The Dalai Lama hugged the children and urged them to go in front, spoiling the photographer’s view of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader. “We need a sense of concern for others,” he was to say later. “That IS compassion.”

When everyone was safe inside, the heavens did open but as the rained drummed on the roof, his Holiness smiled and his gentle way filled the arena with warmth and humour.

“I am very happy to be here with my hero Richard Moore. Those of us who believe in peace and non-violence have a responsibility to show support and solidarity. It’s a great honour for me to come here. Today has turned out to be a special day for me. I’ve known Richard for some time, and he’s has come to see me in Dharamsala with Charles the soldier who shot the plastic bullet that blinded him. Despite that tragedy, he showed how as human beings we have a capacity to forgive and be reconciled. But today, I met my hero’s 93 year old mother, which has made it a great, great day.”

His Holiness stressed that developing a culture of peace is ultimately related to developing compassion for others. “We need to analyse whether anger and hatred have any value,” he said and gave three reasons for developing compassion. “First, it is based on our common experience; everyone responds positively to kindness. Secondly, it is common sense, because it’s obvious that people who are open-hearted are happier. And thirdly, scientific findings show that negative emotions like anger, hatred and fear eat into our immune system, whereas there is evidence that open-heartedness and compassion are good for our overall health.”

He made reference to the love he received from his own mother and the role of education to develop compassion in our communities to ultimately create peace and peace of mind.

“Peace must be part of our lives and part of our culture. Non-violence doesn’t mean we should be passive, because, for example, it takes will-power to restrain yourself from violence. When we have a problem, we need to look at it from many angles with a calm mind in order to understand the reality of the situation.”

He concluded, “Please think. It’s not enough to pray and to hope, we have to work hard to create and maintain compassion and peace.

He then presented the Youth Compassion award to a young medical student, Oisin Duddy, who spends his free time volunteering in Altnagalvin hospital. Oisin also gave a short but moving speech and when he finished he said, “If I ever come across your path may I be of service to you.” Let’s hope his compassion, like the Dalai Lama’s and Richard Moore’s is contagious with no known cure.

His Holiness The Dalai Lama in Derry-Londonderry

I’m back and I will write about Bologna soon but I am still living and storing up all my experiences to write. At the moment I am in The Venue, Derry waiting for Children in Crossfire/Culture of Compassion WITH HIS HOLINESS THE DALAI LAMA in association with Bright Brand New Day. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if compassion was contagious? No doubt we are all going to catch some today. There’s the bell. Time to look for my seat. I’m in the second row and feel so privileged and blessed to be here…later.

A Week in Bologna

I rarely land anywhere without doing my homework. I like to have a half baked notion about where I’m heading. The thing is, prior to my Bologna trip I was focused on a writing project that I wanted to complete before my trip. I had the bones of it but I needed to take the bones and shake them about a bit. I didn’t get it completely finished and, foolishly, I took it to Bologna thinking I would work on it in between my Mandala Course and a little sight seeing. That didn’t happen however, and isn’t happening because since I landed in Bologna with my course schedule, a map of the university area and a loose plan spaced with serendipity I have fell in love… Bologna — la dotta, la grassa, la rossa — my new favourite city in Italy. I’ll translate the meaning and tell you all about it when I get back! Right now, I’m too busy having a mad passionate love affair… Salute!

Drawing Words, Writing Circles.

I’ve been writing all day…in my head. I have been travelling too. I landed in Bologna with my head full of words. That’s okay. They will tumble out sooner or later and spill on to a white A4 sheet of paper to join the words already there. One sentence will become two, then three until I scribble and smudge them out again. Most words end up in the bin but some are rescued, a word or phase that sounds right and before I know it the words take over and write themselves. That’s the way with words.

Tomorrow I’ll jot down a few but tomorrow evening I will draw a circle because that’s what I do when I’m not writing words. It’s no ordinary circle. It’s a Mandala. Sometimes I fill my circle up with words. Sometimes it fills me up with images, symbols that speak to me.

I don’t feel I draw the Mandala. I feel it draws me. The one above was simply created with a stick on Lisfannon beach Inis Eoghain in all of a few minutes. It claimed my focus, my thought and quietened my mind. It’s such a simple way to meditate.

It’s not everyday I’m in Bologna drawing circles so I’m looking forward and will post back soon. In the meantime I’m grateful for simple things…arriving safe, welcoming smiles, a hot shower, a cozy bed and rain whisper in Bologna tonight.

SHINING A LIGHT ON AUTISM

Hi Aileen, The New Signature building has a blue light tonight. Xox.

I received this message from my dear friend Colette around this time last year, a reference to the global initiative that lights up iconic landmarks blue to support Autism Awareness Day. She was obviously thinking of me and my son but I wish government bodies would think of us too by turning Autism Awareness into Autism Action for families that face many a ‘blue day’ while caring and supporting a loved one with Autism.

With the cutbacks of already limited services it would seem that the government is not aware of the increase in autism from 1:10,000 in 1980 to 1:88 in 2012. A recent study this year had claimed the ratio is as low as 1:50 yet early intervention, family support services, alternative secondary level education, and employment initiatives remain limited or non existent. Are they not aware that autistic children grow up? Seems not because due to me having the ‘1’ I am very aware that the government failed to support early intervention for my son and I am also aware that there is little in place for a generation of children presenting with autism who are growing up fast and who are turning into adults that will live long lives inevitably dependent on the taxpayers for their support and care.

When my son presented with autism in 2000, services were dire. Now—north and south of the border—services are still dire. Recently when I went looking for help with an issue regarding my son I was advised due to cutbacks, lack of funding, and resources I would get little help. As everything turns blue to help raise awareness for Autism, including me, it seems that autism services have not progressed and so I dearly wish Autism Awareness Day would lead to Autism Action Month and every day thereafter…but all is not lost. Last week, in response to my quest for help I received a letter in the post. It was a reading list of twenty or more books that, apparently, might be able to help me!

While I was standing in complete disbelief scanning the two pages of book titles I noticed my book wasn’t on the list. I laughed out loud at this because why would my book be on the list? It only highlights the lack of support for our children and calls for action…action that has never happened. Lack of services saw me move my son from county and country to a school that embraced children with autism and their needs. It’s no secret the school is Scoil Iosagain in Buncrana. It is also no secret that school funding, resources and support has been stripped from Scoil Iosagain and every other school in the country and from families caring for special needs children.

This month the media will report stories on the blue symbol that raises awareness of autism but will fall short of shining a light on the real issues that plague autism communities and families; government cutbacks, inadequate support and resources that fail to support families that are emotionally and financially drained, constantly dealing with difficult and challenging behaviour that affect everyone in the family, including siblings, sleep deprivation and quite often having to contend with lack of awareness in public places.

The Light it Up Blue campaign will possibly help raise awareness in public places but let’s hope it translates into better services for our children and families. In the mean time it feels good to receive messages from friends that translate into ‘I’m thinking of you.” If you know someone caring for a loved one, why not send them a wee message of support during Autism Awareness Month. It will be much appreciated.

IL Papa – Living Simply in Vatican City

(Stefano Rellandini/Reuters)

Il Papa—it sounds much more precious in Italian—is a humble man who leads an austere and sober life without ostentation. He lived very simply in an apartment in Argentina where he took care of a handicapped Jesuit and rode the bus to work. I’ve written most of that in past tense because he has now moved house and we all know from here on in how he’ll be getting around.

Most women like the sound of a man who can cook and Jorge Mario Bergoglio is no exception but I’m guessing il Papa will need a little time to re-adjust in his new gaff before he turns the heat up in the kitchen.

Naming himself after St Francis of Assisi the rich young man, who renounced wealth and founded the Franciscan order of friars in 1290 and Francis Xavier, the formidable 16th-century Jesuit missionary evokes images of peace, poverty and a simple lifestyle. When I visited Vatican City with my Mum a few years back—eyes agog and dizzy with awe—images of poverty and simplicity didn’t spring to mind. In the same vein, Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s lifestyle and living on the edge of Buenos Aires is a far cry from the sprawling financial empire he is now in charge of that is dangerously hanging over the edge of reason.

Maybe it’s all the pomp and circumstance that goes hand in hand in electing a new pope or maybe it’s because it’s Easter or maybe it’s their age but my children are asking a lot of simple questions about Catholicism but simple answers are not coming forthwith as I clamour around in the confines of out-dated canonical law shadowed by contradiction, crime and cover ups within the male only Catholic hierarchy. In the middle of  it all sits my fourteen year old drop dead gorgeous autistic. He remains silent, asks no questions and has absolutely no concept of any religion on this earth yet his spirit is vibrating at a level deeper than the foundations of the Sistine Chapel! For him, simplicity is key and so it seems for il Papa.

I wonder what it is like for a Jesuit veteran to be plucked from the far corner of simplicity, adorned in robes and entrusted with the secrets of Vatican City that has not entirely trusted the teaching intelligentsia order he represents because, like my kids, the Jesuits ask difficult, challenging, and thought-provoking questions.

Pray for me, he asked, after emerging from behind the red curtain on the balcony of the central logia at St. Peter’s Basilica. And pray for him we shall because Pope Francis will need all the divine and human intervention he can get as the Catholic Church crumbles and cracks under the weight of great crisis, scandal and conflict in the Vatican bureaucracy. But young St. Francis’ conversion did not happen overnight and neither will the Vatican City’s conversion to spiritual simplicity. That’s not to say Pope Francis won’t make his mark and shake a stick or two.

Let’s hope Papa gets some answers and time to cook, and freedom to hop on a bus. Meanwhile, I’ll continue to keep things simple and cook in my bare feet singing an old Janis Joplin number. ‘Oh, Lord will you buy me a Mercedes-Benz… I wonder did Jorge Mario Bergoglio, while he was cooking the rice and wandering around in his bare feet caring for his friend ever dream of a Mercedes-Benz Popemobile? It’s kind of like a bus…isn’t it?

 

A Real Humdinger Children’s Book Festival in Derry/Londonderry!

 

Humdinger (noun)…a remarkable or extraordinary person or thing of its kind. And that’s exactly what I got when I attended the Humdinger Children’s Book Festival in Derry/Londonderry with Little Missy at the weekend. Unfortunately I didn’t get to see Roddy Doyle who kicked off the festival on Thursday but all the other big names in children’s books were still around on Saturday and come hell or high water I was going! Not even the flu was going to stop me! I woke up on Saturday morning with a scratchy throat and yucky head cold but armed with all sort of remedies to make me feel better I arrived just before 9.30am at the Dog Ears Head Quarters for the Writing for Children’s Workshop. 

The festival brochure promised that Humdinger would inspire a love for reading for years to come, and there is no doubt about that as their programme showcased fun, family friendly and innovative events over three days in a number of venues across the city but ‘wanna be writers’ were definitely not left out. What a lineup!  Meg Rosoff, Alex T. Smith and Malachy Doyle among others, were proudly introduced by Laura of Dog Ears. 

My biggest challenge was trying to keep my nose clean and not cough too much but the morning was informal and full of magical inspiration. Creative therapist, Ursula McHugh from the Playhouse set the mood before highly acclaimed writer and multi award-winning author Meg Rosoff, whose books I have feasted on a few times, encouraged us to find our own unique writer’s voice. It was encouraging to learn that even Meg Rosoff can get ‘stuck’ sometimes. Writing is not always fun and flowing, more like drawing blood out of bad veins. Still, if you can find your unique voice there is a possibility that someone might just like it. So forget about being precious, send out your voice and keep writing and rewriting!

Up next was the very talented writer and illustrator Alex T Smith who was born to do what he is doing. He had brought along some of his earlier work and drawings and talked about how his grandparents influenced his choice of career and his stories. He likes to keep things simple while developing quirky ideas that make his books fun for both adults and children to read. Keeping it entertaining, Malachy Doyle read from his Too Noisy book and he encouraged us to keep writing, rewriting and rewriting as persistence is a key ingredient of success. AND he has written a ton of children’s books so he should know! Then it was our turn to perform or at least pretend to be Jamaican for a short while with the energetic and colourful creators of Rastamouse Genevieve Webster and Michael De Souza who started off self publishing before Rastamouse became one of Cbeebies hit shows.

David Maybury, co-editor of Inis magazine and Freelance Editor at Penguin finished the workshop by providing an invaluable insight into the publishing industry but unfortunately I didn’t hear all he had to say as I was rushing off to meet up with Little Missy to go and see Julia Donaldson in The Millennium Forum. It was pure magic, reliving all the old favourites that I had read to my children one hundred zillion times including Zog, A Squash and a Squeeze, The Snail and the Whale and, of course, that fearful Gruffalo and friendly mouse was there too!

Dashing up to the Playhouse afterwards, we managed to see the Rastamouse team in action again followed by refreshments and a talk delivered by Derek Kielty, début author of Will Gallows. Derek shared some writing tips and exciting news as well. A while back, Elton John’s Rocket Pictures, which produced Gnomeo and Juliet, called him up and expressed an interest in adapting Will Gallows into a kid-friendly film. Exciting stuff! David also read from his first book in the series which he kindly gave to Little Missy after a little autograph session. We rushed home with empty bellies but my head wasn’t full of the cold so much as it was full of inspiration. After we got fed, I went upstairs to persist and rewrite for a while before retiring with a good read. When I peeked in to check on Sleeping Beauty this is what I found…

 Little Missy, under the covers, laughing out loud…

Tonight she asked me if I would go on Amazon and order up the second book in the series as she is now half way through the first one. I’m beginning to wonder if the bookworms I am rearing think Amazon is some sort of genie lamp! But I shall keep granting their wishes if it keeps them turning pages and Humdinger obviously achieved what it set out to achieve – to inspire a love for reading!

Dog Ears wanted to do something amazing for UK City of Culture 2013 and they did it. They hosted one humdinger of a festival for children and adults alike. It felt like Fionnuala, Laura, Jackie, John and Trisha had moved New York and London a little closer to home and pulled out all the stops to give us a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet some best-loved authors and illustrators while providing endless possibilities to get crafty and creative in the many workshops on offer. Thank you to all at Dog Ears. Great job! Magical festival! Cheers Dog Ears!

If you want to find out more about Dog Ears or the Humdinger Children’s Book Festival check out www.cheersdogears.com