peace - News - The Coastal Star2024-03-28T15:39:09Zhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/peaceEditor’s Note: Sparkling wishes for a light-filled holiday seasonhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/editor-s-note-sparkling-wishes-for-a-light-filled-holiday-season2019-12-04T17:45:44.000Z2019-12-04T17:45:44.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p><span style="font-size:18pt;"><strong>A</strong></span> family trip to Spain took me out of the Florida heat and into the chill of a more northern November. Luckily there were paellas and tapas, plus plenty of churros and chocolate and vino tinto to keep us warm. As we soaked in the art and history of the major cities, we watched as holiday lights were being strung across streets and throughout urban parks. <br /> We departed just a few days before they were to be lit and surely now fill the evenings with wonder. <br /> The trip reminded me that December is a month filled with lights, and the cool weather and decorations abroad put me in a holiday mood. So, I’m braced for the whirlwind of friends and family and all the maddening preparations and exhausting cleanup. <br />Bring it on.<br /> I’m also ready to simply enjoy the lights: the spiral-wound palm trees along A1A, the twinkling Christmas trees in parks and windows and the flickering candles on friends’ menorahs. <br /> Even the stars shining before dawn and the moon rising to illuminate the night bring about a meditative tranquility.<br /> My hope is that as you partake in all of the December festivities, you too are able to stop and consider the calming influence of lights. <br /> It’s this calm we may all need to survive the coming month. <br /> So, as holiday chaos ramps up, my wish for everyone is to have a sparkling holiday season filled with peace and hope — and, of course, nights brimming with the magic of light.<br /> Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and, from Spain, Feliz Navidad.</p>
<p><em>Mary Kate Leming,</em><br /> <em>Editor</em></p></div>Editor’s Note: Embarking on 2018 with lyrical hopeshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/editor-s-note-embarking-on-2018-with-lyrical-hopes2018-01-03T19:30:00.000Z2018-01-03T19:30:00.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:left;"><em>It’s a new dawn</em><br /> <em>It’s a new day</em><br /> <em>It’s a new life</em><br /> <em>For me</em><br /> <em>And I’m feeling good</em><br /> <em>I’m feeling good</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><br /> •</p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><br /> The often-recorded song <em>Feeling Good</em> is in my iTunes mix as 2018 begins. <br /> Nina Simone’s 1965 version charted decades later when heard in a Volvo commercial, and Michael Bublé’s 2005 cover has been used widely as well.<br /> Its durable message appeals to me now, when not a single person I know doesn’t hope the year just beginning will be better than the last one. I think we all want a new dawn and new day. Right?<br /> There were many mornings in 2017 when I woke seeking gratefulness and found refuge in the realization that due to the circumstances of my birth, I was not one of the 22.5 million refugees in the world. I was snug in my bed and didn’t need to flee a combat zone or try to decide what small items of remembrance I could safely take in a backpack before I left everything I knew and loved.<br /> I don’t have to gamble my savings on a dangerous boat trip to a camp for displaced persons in a foreign land.<br /> I have employment, family, friends and health. I have a home.<br /> It’s so very easy to take all these things for granted.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><br /> •</p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><br /> <em>Dragonfly out in the sun, you know what I mean, don’t you know</em><br /> <em>Butterflies all havin’ fun, you know what I mean</em><br /> <em>Sleep in peace when the day is done, that’s what I mean</em><br /> <em>And this old world is a new world</em><br /> <em>And a bold world</em><br /> <em>For me</em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><br /> •</p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><br /> So, my hope for 2018 is bold strides toward a new world of peace for us all.<br /> Happy New Year!</p>
<p><em>— Mary Kate Leming, Editor</em></p></div>