The Great Silent Grandmother Gathering

 
The women of Ohio, U.S.A., call upon the women of the world, from day- old babies to our most senior elders, to stand with us on May 13,  2007, to save the world. Our project is based on Sharon Mehdi's book The Great Silent Grandmother Gathering. If you don't know the story, a summary of the original version is on the website www.standingwomen.org [1] If you think it is appropriate, please send this message on to all of the women throughout the world who you think might like to join us. We will be standing for the world's children and grandchildren, and for the seven generations beyond them. We dream of a world where all of our children have safe drinking water, clean air to breathe, and enough food to eat. A world where they have access to a basic education to develop their minds and healthcare to nurture their growing bodies. A world where they have a warm, safe, and loving place to call home. A world where they don't live in fear of violence--in their home, in their neighborhood, in their school, or in their world. This is the world of which we dream. This is the cause for which we will stand. If you share this dream, please stand with us for five minutes of silence at 1 p.m. your local time on May 13, 2007, in your local park, school yard, gathering place, or any place you deem appropriate, to signify your agreement with this statement. We ask you to invite the men and boys who you care about to join you. We ask that you bring bells to ring at 1 p.m. to signify the beginning of the five minutes of silence and to ring again to signify the end of the period of silence. During the silence, please think about what you individually and we collectively can do to attain this world. If you need to sit rather than stand, please feel free to do so. Afterwards, hopefully you and your loved ones can talk together about how we can bring about this world. See www.standingwomen.org [1] for more details and to register your commitment to stand with us. The website is in 15 languages and links to a YouTube video. We hope to see a 24 hour wave of women and men all over the globe standing to save the world.