Snowmageddon

You've probably heard about the blizzard in Newfoundland. Here is a brilliant recap by a musician/actor/politician named Sean Panting. He's borrowed the melody of a tune called Tickle Cove Pond and made the whole event look and sound way more fun than it probably was, I'm sure. Hats off to all the Newfies who have coped and helped each other out, taking the common good to heart and putting it into practice. May Spring Thaw be gentle on you!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rGr4cKXIRY

Laudato Si Sunday reflection: Using love as our bait

Today's reflection is brought to you by
Matthew 4:18-22.

We are all fishers of people,

O God,
though some of us
are more successful
than others.

Perhaps we need to look at our bait.

Do we speak with fire and brimstone
or joy and humility?

Do we reach out with dogma and doctrine
or simplicity and tenderness?

Do we listen to others with judgment and condemnation
or forgiveness and compassion?

Do we offer burdens of guilt
or smiles and helping hands?

Do we display pious pretenses
or do we live your gospel
through a real relationship with you
and the people with whom you surround us?

Please, teach us to fish for people
with the kind of love you offer to each of us.

+Amen.

* * * * * * * 

The idea of understanding the needs of society's grass roots comes up frequently in Pope Francis's letter to the world, Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home. And here's a question I forgot to ask last week -- just who makes up these grass roots? Quite often they are the poor, the lower class, the people without power, until they organize around a cause and make their voices heard. Like Jesus' fisherman friends did when they learned about love from the Greatest Teacher of them all.

The idea that the voices of those who make up grass roots movements need to be heard continues in this week's reading of paragraphs 147-151 of Laudato Si, which can be accessed by clicking here and scrolling down. This week, though, we shift focus toward urban issues as we start a new section called Ecology of Daily Life, which talks about quality of life for human beings, particularly in cities. Did you know that of the world's 7.7 billion people, 54% of us are city dwellers, and a full 81.4% of Canadians live in urban settings? These stats have all risen since I last looked at this section of Laudato Si four years ago!

Pope Francis and friends want to point out the importance of beauty, simplicity, and order in human life. Paragraph 147 notes that "We make every effort to adapt to our environment, but when it is disorderly, chaotic, or saturated with noise and ugliness, such over-stimulation makes it difficult to find ourselves integrated and happy."

Even so, "An admirable creativity and generosity is shown by persons and groups who respond to environmental limitations by alleviating the adverse effects of their surroundings and learning to orient their lives amid disorder and uncertainty." Paragraph 148 underlines the fact that even when our living situations are chaotic, "a commendable human ecology is practised by the poor in spite of numerous hardships" and human beings can find a sense of belonging and solidarity by working together to improve their surroundings in their homes and neighbourhoods.

Unfortunately, such places often attract a criminal element that aims to exploit the poor. Pope Francis and his encyclical writers are very aware of the fact that violence, drug culture and antisocial behaviour are often present in these situations, but the Pope says, "I wish to insist that love always proves more powerful. Many people in these conditions are able to weave bonds of belonging and togetherness which convert overcrowding into an experience of community in which the walls of the ego are torn down and the barriers of selfishness overcome."

In our wide open spaces here in Canada, and here in Edmonton, urban planners have tried to find solutions to inner city problems by creating "integrated communities" where people of different social strata can live together... but they often meet seemingly insurmountable opposition from people who fear that their way of life will somehow be undermined by the presence of low-income housing, halfway houses or Housing First accommodations which give homeless people roofs over their heads and then deal with their social challenges. My question is -- how do we allay the fears of people who have never met the poor? I guess we really need to become Fishers of People who catch everyone up in a net of love -- even the doubters -- by creating even more opportunities to gather and get to know each other.

I would love to see many more "integrated communities" in my city and country, but our provincial government seems to be leaning in the opposite direction, cutting funding for affordable housing supports and programs. If we want to change that, we need to speak up, write letters, and expect more from our elected leaders. And we need to offer more opportunities for so-called average people to walk with our inner city brothers and sisters on a regular basis, to meet them and learn about their lives.

Here comes a little plug: On Leap Day, February 29th, Hope Mission in Edmonton (and Calgary) will host a 2 or 5 km fundraiser walk called Cold Hands, Warm Hearts. It's a perfect opportunity to learn more about our inner city sisters and brothers and ways to care about them, with them. If you would like to join the team I've started, click here and come walk with us!

Paragraph 150 draws us back into the land of consulting with the grass roots when it says, "those who design buildings, neighbourhoods, public spaces and cities, ought to draw on the various disciplines which help us to understand people's thought processes, symbolic language and ways of acting. It is not enough to seek the beauty of design."

Conservation also needs to be a part of what we strive for in our communities. In paragraph 151, we see that it is important to preserve those parts of a landscape which help to create our sense of belonging as human beings. Elements that create cohesion are important because they unite us, toppling the belief that we are all strangers and preventing us from creating "us vs. them" neighbourhoods. Natural areas that create a sense of well-being help us to realize that we belong to the great "we" -- that we are all one family. If we understand Jesus at all, we know that he came to knock down our divisions and to remind us that every one of us is an equally beloved child of God.

Just imagine if our communities could always reflect this fact! In the week ahead, let's focus on the idea that really, the grass roots of any society is made up of people who are all equally beloved of God, and that we should all be working together to create a world and society that reflects the beloved-ness of every human being, all 7.7 billion of us, AND all other beings, great and small. How might that understanding change our society and our world? Would terrorist organizations have any reason to be so hateful, or would love prove more powerful, as Pope Francis says?

How can we create a sense of equality and beloved-ness for everyone we meet, regardless of their place in society?

A cooking lesson with Lidia

This morning the snow was falling so thickly that Shadow-dog and I couldn't see downtown across the river from Strathearn Park. He had to galumph through the snow, his short legs barely making it over the berms along the edge of the bikepath. By the time we arrived at my dear Italian friend Lidia's, he was half black and half white, but she welcomed us in with a warmth that melted the snow in a hurry.

"Today you come for gnocchi?" she asked. I told her that I couldn't stay for lunch because I had a physio appointment to attend. That did not make her happy.

"I cook potato, we make gnocchi." She went to her fridge and brought out a large baking potato, skin on, that she had boiled yesterday, and proceeded to give me the gnocchi-making lesson I had jokingly suggested during my visit last week. After peeling the potato, she sliced it into her Italian potato grater, a piece of stainless steel sieve-shaped equipment that fits over a bowl, with a crank and an augur-like piece that pushes the finely-shredded potato through the bottom. I wasn't very good at operating the thing -- it kept going cockeyed -- so she took over and had the job done in two minutes (after I had been trying for five). 

"Two potatoes, two eggs. One potato, one egg," she said, mixing the one egg with one tablespoon of olive oil and beating it in a small bowl. She poured it onto the grated potato, and threw in a few handsful of flour.

"Lidia! You cook like my grandma," I teased. "You don't measure. How am I supposed to follow your recipe when my hands are bigger than yours?" 

She laughed and shrugged. "You tell by how it feel, not too hard, not too soff." When she had kneaded everything into a nice dough, she started to roll it into thin ropes, and chop it into small pieces that she tossed into a bit more flour. 

Then, the magic. 

She took a fork and rolled a piece of the dough on its tines with one finger, and voila! A beautiful little gnoccha. I laughed out loud! So that's why those little potato dumplings are so pretty! I got my own fork and we bent over the task together, me grinning like the Cheshire cat, exclaiming over the process. Doesn't take much to delight me! Hers had nice plump shapes, but mine looked like they were underfed.

By the time I had to leave, we had enough gnocchi for my family's supper. Of course Lidia sent it home with me, along with a jar of her wonderful homemade tomato sauce (with real Italian basil, grown by Ralph last summer) and instructions on how to put it all together. I told her she should be the star of "Cooking with Lidia" on TV, and she waved me off, saying I should go and get my own potato/tomato grater at the Italian Centre.

How I love my tiny Italian mamma!

I can't wait to eat supper tonight!

Laudato Si Sunday reflection: Caring for our God-given heritage

Today's reflection is brought to you by
Isaiah 49 3, 5-6.

O God,
you tell us
that we are your servants
and your glory is in us.

You ask us to bring all the world
back to you
so that everything and everyone
can be gathered,
not in protest or strife,
but in your loving arms.

Your call is our honour
and you are our strength.

And you tell us
that our task
is not only to raise up human tribes
and survivors of our present challenges.

No,
your role for us is greater yet.

We are to be your light
for all of creation,
to defend and support
all you have made
so that your love
can reach every creature
even to the ends of the earth.

You honour us
and challenge us.
Help us to meet your challenge.

+Amen

* * * * * * *

This week we are looking at "Cultural Ecology," which is Section II of Chapter Four of Pope Francis' encyclical, Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home. It can be found by clicking here and scrolling down to paragraphs 143-146.

The words of this weekend's reading from the Book of Isaiah fit well with the Pope's words about cultural ecology. In the reading, Isaiah is called, as are we all, to be servants of God's creation and one another. The only way we can be light to the nations and hope for our planet is if we remember that we are God's action on earth, called to bring all of creation to God's salvation as we reach for that salvation ourselves!

As I began reading this section, I had to stop and say, "what the heck is patrimony?" The word refers to an inheritance received from one's father or a male ancestor. For those who understand God as beyond gender stereotypes, inheritance or heritage is a better word. Archaic language aside, this section explains that when our ecological heritage is under threat, so is our cultural heritage. As is noted in paragraph 143, "Culture is more than what we have inherited from the past; it is also, and above all, a living, dynamic and participatory present reality, which cannot be excluded as we rethink the relationship of human beings and the environment."

And what is it that endangers our cultural heritage? I would point to the way our media/marketers plant artificial desires in the hearts of so many people -- to keep up with the Joneses, to be like everyone else rather than acknowledging that we are all unique and beautiful children of God who don't have to look and dress like the flavour-of-the-month celebrities in any given country. That's only one example... Pope Francis and friends say in paragraph 144 that

There is a need to respect the rights of peoples and cultures, and to appreciate that the development of a social group presupposes an historical process which takes place within a cultural context and demands the constant and active involvement of local people from within their proper culture. Nor can the notion of quality of life be imposed from without, for quality of life must be understood from within the world of symbols and customs proper to each group.

As I see it, the problem is that too often in human history, cultures that saw themselves as "more advanced" or that were wealthier or more scientifically educated (read: "superior") imposed themselves upon unsuspecting original populations with disastrous results! I'm thinking of French explorers who brought smallpox and alcohol to the Indigenous peoples of Canada without appreciating the gifts they offered -- a deep understanding of the land and of creation. Or of well-meaning scientists who tried to control "pest populations" by introducing a predator species that became more invasive and devastating than the original pest. Paragraph 145 states, "The imposition of a dominant lifestyle linked to a single form of production can be just as harmful as the altering of ecosystems."

Paragraph 146 contains what I see as the critically important lines of this entire section -- "...it is essential to show special care for indigenous communities and their cultural traditions. They are not merely one minority among others, but should be the principal dialogue partners, especially when large projects affecting their land are proposed..." Their land, and their livelihood, which is often very connected to all creatures living on the land with them.

Of course, this is not how our world operates. We saw that just this week as our Supreme Court rejected B.C.'s appeal of the Trans Mountain Pipeline, saying that there was enough consultation with involved communities. In the meantime, the Wet'suwet'en community is fighting the Coastal GasLink with a fair bit of media attention, with protests supporting them across the country.

And there are many other mining operations, pipelines, agricultural projects, hydroelectric dams, water bottling plants -- to name just a few -- that have been established without appropriate consultation or studies with/of the people and other species who live on and take their livelihood from the lands where such projects have been planted. There's a heartbreaking video in our Royal Alberta Museum about the Bighorn Dam built in 1972 with no consultation with the Stony Nakoda who lived in that valley, and whose ancestors' graves are now under the reservoir. In our not so distant past, some cultures have completely disappeared due to the ignorance of other "invasive cultures," and there are, unfortunately, too many examples of similar things going on at present.

I worry for the many Indigenous sisters and brothers in the news and what will happen to them if there are large pipeline leaks, as well as the caribou herds whose populations have diminished because construction of mega projects and different jurisdictions' forestry practices have disrupted their migration paths and natural life cycles.

Pope Francis and Laudato Si call us to stop acting like superior invaders who impose upon creation, upon cultures, upon creatures, and become co-operators with who and what is already present instead. To be light to the nations rather than ignore these situations!

If you follow my moodlings at all, you'll know that I particularly like the example given by Development and Peace, a Canadian organization, part of Caritas International, which has learned to listen to people "on the ground" when it comes to offering development assistance. I've heard of too many organizations that parachute people into communities in the developing world to build orphanages or start programs without a real understanding of what is needed. Wouldn't it be better to enter into dialogue and to cooperate with other communities? To respect their wisdom and protect their way of life with a grassroots cultural ecological model?

In the week ahead, I would invite us all to consider the culture in which we live, and give some thought to how we can support struggling cultures -- both human and non-human -- without imposing our needs, expectations or solutions upon them. 

They don't need invaders, but I'm sure they can use more friends and supporters. Maybe it's time to research organizations in your neck of the woods that support grassroots cultural ecology?

A love letter to the North Saskatchewan River

One of the main reasons I love living in Edmonton is our river valley. We are so blessed to have the
North Saskatchewan River flowing through our metropolis from west to east, and even more blessed that , over many years, our city councillors have protected its banks and made it into the largest urban park in Canada. A string of about 30 municipal parks covers about 18,000 acres, with more than 160 km of maintained pathways for walking, jogging, cycling and other outdoor pursuits.

Over our Christmas and New Year's break, Lee, Shadow-dog and I walked over 60 km along our river, doing what we call a chain walk. Basically, we crossed 11 bridges (some more than once) and walked in 28 parks on both sides of the river, starting at one bridge and walking to the next, returning on the opposite side of the river, except in the parks out west where the trails meander up into neighbourhoods like Rio Terrace, Quesnell Heights, Rhatigan Ridge, and Ramsay. That was our longest walk, almost 10 km from Quesnell Bridge to Terwillegar Footbridge and back.

Here's a list of the parks we hiked through, borrowed from Wikipedia's North Saskatchewan River valley parks system page. Up until now, I didn't even know that some of the parks had special names!

Walterdale Bridge

• Terwillegar Park - south bank
• Oleskiw River Valley Park - north bank
• Whitemud Park (also known as Whitemud Creek)- south bank
• Sir Wilfrid Laurier Park - north bank
• Buena Vista Park - north bank
• William Hawrelak Park - south bank
• McKinnon Ravine Park - north bank
• Government House Park - north bank
• Emily Murphy Park (named for one of Alberta's/Canada's "Famous Five") - south bank
• Victoria Park - north bank
• Kinsmen Park - south bank
• Queen Elizabeth Park - south bank
• Nellie McClung Park ("Famous Five") - south bank
• Irene Parlby Park ("Famous Five") - north bank
• Rossdale Park - north bank
• Louise McKinney Park ("Famous Five") - north bank
• Henrietta Muir Edwards Park / Rafters Landing ("Famous Five") - south bank
• Mill Creek Ravine Park - south bank
• Gallagher Park - south bank
• Riverdale Park - north bank
• Allan Stein Park - north bank
• Forest Heights Park - south bank
• Dawson Park - north bank
• Kinnaird Park and Ravine - north bank
• Capilano Park - south bank
• Gold Bar Park - south bank
• Floden Park - north bank
• Rundle Park - north bank

We were fortunate that the weather was reasonable (it's reaching into the -30 degrees Celcius range these evenings, with a -35 windchill at the moment) and the skies were blue for the most part. The thing about living here is that if you can adapt to the cold (read, dress properly), there's every reason to get out and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine, and there's plenty of beauty to enjoy.

As we walked, I decided that it was time to write a love letter to my river valley.

Dear North Saskatchewan,

I love your

frosty, misty mornings, 

sounds of squirrels and songs of birds,

your still, shining waters,

frozen surfaces and chunks of ice,

your woodpeckers' holes in snags,

tall trees and frost-encrusted shrubs,

your snowy paths and quietly curving trails,

bridges and city views.

Low Level Bridge view

I love walking, hand in my partner's hand,

and the dog's prancing gait

as we meander with you,

North Saskatchewan River,

and return home

with pink cheeks and tired feet.

I love the part you have played

in the lives of those 

who have inhabited your banks and bluffs

for thousands of years.

I am grateful 

for the way you sustain life

from the glaciers 

to Saskatchewan River Forks.

Pileated woodpecker

Thank you

for your water and ice,

for your beauty and serenity

in my hometown

amid the noise of traffic

and the construction of your bridges.

Thank you

for being a refuge,

a nature-haven

for city-weary souls.

May your waters flow

forever.

With love and gratitude,

Maria

Fort Edmonton Footbridge

Laudato Si Sunday Reflection: Enmeshed in God's creation

This week's reflection is brought to you by
Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7.

O God,
Your words to the suffering servant
in the book of Isaiah
can also apply to each one of us:

You are my servant,
whom I uphold,
my chosen,
in whom my soul delights;
I have put my spirit in you
to bring forth justice to my earth.

You will not break those who are bruised
and you will not extinguish any small hope;
you will faithfully bring forth justice.

I am God,
I have called you in righteousness,
I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you your gifts and talents
to be a light in my world,
to open the eyes of those who cannot see my way,
to free those imprisoned by fear and darkness."

You call us to be mindful
O God,
of your ways in our world,
of how we are enmeshed in your creation.

Help us to hear
and do
what you ask of us!

We need you,
and you tell us that the world needs us
to become your action
for the good of all.

Help us to work together
to bring all of creation
to your light,
your hope,
your freedom.

+Amen.

* * * * * * * 

God is always calling us from our problems toward solutions, and that's what the rest of Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home is all about. Not that they will be easy solutions. The reason Pope Francis's letter to the world is something of a hard sell is that, if we are to make it work, it is the wealthy 8% of the world's population who will have to overhaul our lives with an eye to what the planet requires for the survival. We are the ones who will have to rethink our jet-setting vacations, recreational vehicles and over-sized homes. And it comes down to the wire -- will we change willingly, or will the increasingly dangerous climate conditions force change upon us? Australia's wildfires are yet another wake up call that we can't afford to ignore!

How many of us are willing to sacrifice for the common good, and to reduce our ecological footprints so we can live more sustainably? This week we are reflecting on paragraphs 137 to 142 of Laudato Si, which can be accessed by clicking here and scrolling down.

Before I get into the Pope's discussion of an integral ecology, I'd like to share once again a little piece I came across from Australia's Rolling Stone Magazine (Issue 771, February 2016). David Suzuki, our Canadian environmental scientist and global climate change crusader, an avowed atheist, noted that many of our planet's issues have been separated into different categories, to be handled by different agencies. Suzuki was thrilled by Pope Francis' encyclical, commenting that,

We are enmeshed...

 ...we [environmental activists] act as though [hunger, poverty, social justice, environment] are separate issues. And the Pope doesn't separate them: he says, 'We've spent all our time focused on two relationships: our human relationship with God, and our relationship with each other. But there is a third relationship, and that's our relationship with the rest of Creation.' Thank you, Francis. It's an astounding thing to come out of the Catholic freakin' Church!

Suzuki is right -- the beauty of the Pope's letter to the world is that it underlines, over and over again, the importance of realizing that everything we do impacts life on this planet in some way, and that there are no "separate issues." We are enmeshed in creation, in our world's many issues, in each other's lives.

Paragraph 137 begins with the refrain that everything is closely interrelated (we hear it twice more in these 6 paragraphs!), followed with the reminder that we need to take into account "every aspect of the global crisis" using an integral ecology. In other words, we must look at what is happening to the environment through the lenses of science, culture, politics, technology, faith, health, resource use, equality and solidarity, climate change, economics, everything.

Facing up to the challenge of employing an integral ecology requires "reflection and debate about the conditions required for the life and survival of society" (paragraph 138), not to mention the rest of creation. "Nature cannot be regarded as something separate from ourselves or as a mere setting in which we live. We are part of nature, included in it and thus in constant interaction with it" (paragraph 139). And the crises we face are both social and environmental, demanding "an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature." If we can do those three things, our ecology becomes wholistic or integral.

Paragraph 140 notes that researchers have an important role in determining the environmental impacts of human activity, and that they must have the academic freedom to help us to understand the balance of the ecosystems that make up our planet because otherwise, we can't begin to live sustainably. We humans are pretty good at seeing the things that directly impact us, but wear blinders when it comes to impacts on other creatures essential to the world's survival. And often we don't see impacts until much further down the road. Case in point? The past and present use of DDT and other pesticides -- that we now know are found in our own bodies, though they were only supposed to suppress certain "pests."

Pope Francis is trying to make us realize that the economy's "predictable reactions and... standardization with the aim of simplifying procedures and reducing costs" can no longer be the driving force in our earth's development (paragraph 141). The quality life for all creatures and the human institutions that protect justice, peace and freedom for all of creation need to be given higher priority than the many financial and political forces that have overseen our planet and allowed it to fall into ruin.

One major problem, according to paragraph 142, is that lack of respect for the law has become more and more common at all levels. The pope and friends cite the continuing destruction of forests in countries that have clear forest protection legislation, and the importing of drugs to affluent societies from poor regions that suffer because of the drug trade. If we follow world news at all, we can probably name dozens of other examples of international, national, and local laws that are being ignored all the time, or situations where industry or politics find and exploit loopholes in various social and environmental regulations.

It makes me happy that more and more, activists are discovering and speaking up about the places where laws are ignored to the detriment of our planet -- and that average citizens are getting involved through social media campaigns. But what really needs to happen is that we all need to develop an integral way of thinking at all levels, all the time.

We've just begun a new decade, and as I see it, our challenge as a human race is to see our lives with integral ecology in mind. Almost every choice we make as human beings, whether we realize it or not, has an impact on our planet. For example, my choices this morning have included what to eat for breakfast (what do my food choices cost my planet?) how to prepare it (how is my energy use impacting the environment?), what I will wear (how has it been produced, and who or what is affected by that?) and how I will get to church (can I reduce my fossil fuel emissions?) Seeing how we are enmeshed in the bigger picture takes effort and practice, but it can certainly help us to live more sustainably.

In the 2020s, we must all ask ourselves: How am I enmeshed in God's creation? How can I live more sustainably? How do I fit into an integral ecology? And how can I bring others to this kind of mindfulness?

A prayer for Australia

Please, God, please, send Australia more good, soaking rain. And make the rest of us in far away places aware of the world's carbon debt and how we are contributing to it, so we can reduce climate change now.

+Amen.

2020 Word of the Year

Happy New Year, friends!

It's been a few weeks since I moodled online (though I'm always internally moodling about various things as I go through my days). I enjoyed a long Christmas/New Year moodling break, and will have a story or two that arises from it. But for this first post of 2020, I think it's fitting to announce my Word of the Year for 2020.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmA2_h_Xgro

And 2020's word of the year is...

COMMUNITY!

I have many reasons for picking this word. The main one is that, though my 2019 year of Blessing was full of so many beautiful and blessed moments, there were also many challenges in which I felt very much alone. Toward the end of the year, though, I realized the importance of reaching out for support and companionship as I dealt with my challenges. I'm still struggling in many ways, but I've decided that rather than clamming up and toughing it out, I need to be more open and invite my family, friends, and perhaps some other different forms of community to struggle along with me when I'm feeling overwhelmed.

Another thing that's on my mind as we begin this New Year is the state of our world. We are so divided, whether it be politically or ideologically -- East vs. West, USA vs. Iran, environmentalists vs. big oil, conservatives vs. liberals, settlers vs. Indigenous, cis-gendered vs. LGBTQ2S+, Boomers vs. Milennials, Christians vs. Muslims vs. Jews --  name any issue and there's probably a divide in it. 

But if we want to continue as a human race, we need to put our divisions behind us and become COMMUNITY when it comes to world peace, caring for our environment, eliminating poverty, working for the rights of the marginalized, and the list goes on... There are so many issues that have to be tackled by good people who care, and though we all have different pet concerns, perhaps we can agree that the common good of ALL, no matter the stripe, is what we need to work toward. Because really, our divisions are just our fears being given too much credit.

I think I'll end this little announcement of my Word of the Year with one of my favourite little pieces by Australian Michael Leunig. (I hope he and his loved ones are safe from those wildfires... another climate crisis we need to address as a world community... ) I know I've moodled this before, but it bears repeating as we start into a decade where we must work together for the sake of our species and ALL the others. I love Michael's image of everyone in their own sad little boxes. That's kind of where I've been, but I'm done with being stuck in my own little box, and I hope you are with me on that. We CAN make this year, this decade, a Happy one if we break down the mostly cardboard walls that divide us, if we choose community.

If you have your own Word of the Year and are willing to share it, I'd love to hear about it in the comments below. Happy New Year, and New Decade!