Each of us is a silent music-maker. Not long ago, I found a large, purple plaque, in a thrift store, with just those words.   

That was my philosophy, even as a little girl. Perhaps intuitively. It still is, though there have been many times when I would have scoffed at that idea. So I bought the most affordable masterpiece and hung it beside the front door of this apartment, where I write and teach piano.

It’s a door where visitors often enter. Mostly students and their families, but often survivors and advocates, as well as members of my own family. I want them, young and old, to notice these words. To be reminded that they are responsible for making music, no matter what life brings to them. Just as I am.

Today, as you go about your routine, listen to the music that is playing in your heart. Listen closely. Even if it doesn’t sound like music at first.  Embrace it as a work of art, a work still in progress.

Sometimes I get discouraged as I see the stereotyping that seems to abound in some survivor groups. Truth is it is very difficult to find many statements that are universally a part of every story. Especially when it comes to reactions or outcomes. Some of you know that I am cautious about the words I use that might indicate that all lives are permanently “damaged” and that all survivors are “sick” or “wounded beyond hope of recovery.” There are just too many stories that show immense creativity and transcendence, even in the midst of the tremendous change and losses that are sustained through the storms of abuse.

There is a wonderful new site that brings hope of raising the consciousness of people of faith, especially clergy and church leaders, in regard to domestic violence.

No matter what your violation, no matter what your story, I hope that you will look at the general principles presented in the “stain glass story” that The Rave Project presents on it’s remarkable site:

I believe you’ll see yourself in a new Light. In turn, may you offer this Light and Hope to others.

Sadly, money often speaks louder than words of wisdom. The words of truth and wisdom are ignored when it comes to violence against women and children. Even SILENCE speaks louder than words of wisdom. This week, though, there was no silence. Money did talk. Now we have opportunity to hear the wisdom coming from the voice of Anusha Browne Sanders.

In case you haven’t read, here’s the story http://www.princessdominique.com/blog/2007/10/02/anucha-browne-sanders-wins-116-million-in-punitive-damages-in-sexual-harrassment-lawsuit/

Anusha was a guest on the Today show yesterday. Two statements are lodged in my memory, from that interview:

When asked what made her decide to take a stand, she said it was her realization that she was not alone. She saw the need as greater than herself. That makes it a spiritual issue, in my understanding.

The biggest problem for her was that the officials at Madison Square Garden didn’t respond appropriately. She lost her job in the process, while the perpetrator kept his! No justice at all!

I can identify on all counts. While the perpetrator--ironically another guy with the last name of "Thomas"--is screaming his innocence and getting off without paying punitive damages, Sanders has made her point clearly. As she said on Today, things will change when “leadership decides” they will change. Ultimately, no matter how many voices are raised, the ball really is in the court of power.

Except in how we rise above them to show ourselves to be people with more courage and character than either the perpetrators or the colluders. That’s what I want this blog to address most. How WE do not continue to give power to those in positions of power so that we transcend both the past and present to create a bright future for ourselves and hopefully for our world. 

That, my friends, is transitional diplomacy!

Just last month, I took on a new passion that I’ll be following in my writing. You’re probably going to be hearing more about this in the months to come. I began writing about a foreign exchange program that’s very atypical. The students come from Africa, totally through the collaborative efforts of people who contribute to an Iowa organization www.iris.org Most of the students live in Iowa.

The purpose of this non-profit effort is to provide young people with an opportunity for an alternative to violence and misunderstanding through what IRIS calls “transitional diplomacy.”

I believe, as peacemakers, we can all learn from these students. Just like survivors of sexual and domestic violence, they offer us a chance to see what sacrifice, suffering, and humility can teach us as “the privileged people of power” that most of us are in the western world.

In that process, I hope to teach both survivors and these “foreigners” who come as students something about each of the two groups that are represented by my two passions. The work of www.takecourage.org being the first, with that work not getting lost as I move into a new wave of learning to understand and bridge the gaps of “aliens.”

Tomorrow I'll be writing about a woman who has just made news, stepping out as an advocate, to do the work of transitional diplomacy in the arena of sexual violence. 

Yesterday, October 1, 2007, I watched the first episode of “Aliens in America.” It’s a new show on the CW Network that I encourage you to watch. The story is about a family who takes in a foreign exchange student from Pakistan, for some very selfish reasons. With false expectations, as well. Last night, during the very first episode, the student almost got sent home! He just wasn’t what they had hoped he would be!

The turning point was when he told his story of loss in a way that somehow made the host mother realize that this was a vulnerable young man who was very much like her own son, whom she had set out to “rescue” from alienation himself. Her son was alienated by his immature peers. Yet compared to what he saw the foreigner enduring, he quickly concluded that his own abuse was nothing. What’s more: The foreigner showed himself to be more mature and humble than any other character in the whole show!

“Aliens in America” could not have come at a more perfect time in my life. For years, I’ve been writing about “aliens.” Not people from a foreign country, but people like you and me. People who often speak truth to power. People who believe in empowering other "aliens." The aliens of whom I speak are survivors of sexual and domestic violence, along with advocates of those survivors, who have not found a warm welcome for their message or story in the community of faith. 

Chances are you are one of these people who has been scorned, stomped on, and alienated because you have challenged the institutional church to make changes in how it responds to violence or prejudice against survivors.  Most of the violence was against women and children, even though many of those children who were violated are now men. Men who, along with their  female counterparts, are often more mature than so many of the men and women who have been far from welcoming.

Yesterday was a new beginning for me as I launched the third edition of www.takecourage.org

This site has served as a beacon to many struggling people for years. I hope it continues to do so.

Yet it is taking on a new life, thanks to my volunteer, virtual assistant Renae. This survivor had a vision. She challenged me, believed in me, and I trusted her to help me produce a much more user-friendly site, complete with this daily blog. I've done a lot of additional writing for the site, so please take a close look.

You do not need to sign up.  Nor will you be receiving any annoying reminders to say there is a new entry.  You can expect to find a new entry, however, every weekday.  So you can read it like the morning newspaper or save your reading until the end of the week.  Most entires will be much shorter than this one.

While the blog is not interactive per se, I do hope that you will sometimes drop in by e-mail and tell me what you think. In so doing, you may be helping to shape the direction I take in this outreach of writing. I cannot promise to answer every e-mail--my inbox is becoming almost impossible some days. Yet I read everything I get. Thank you for your kind words and encouragement.

“Aliens in America” is something I’ll watch with interest. It is most interesting because of the way it exposes how we are all prone to treat people whom we erroneously perceive to be a threat to our old way of thinking.  Therefore, it is as applicable to my readers who come to this site as it will be to the new group of "aliens" that have become a second passion for me in writing. 

Please tune in tomorrow to find out more.