I generally try to keep things fairly bright and positive around here (you know, the "let's talk about my new shoes" kind of chat). But this has been something that's been a big focus in my home and heart of late, and so I wanted to share just a wee bit of it here, sadness and all. It's part of my life. Prompted by Calvin, who has just learned what a gun is (thank you, Rolf), we've been having some pretty heartbreaking conversations. Conversations of guns, of violence, and war and death. Hard, sad conversations to have with a child...and hard to find responses to the amazing questions he asks. Today we were talking about ways we can and do make change in our lives and in the world around us, and in particular, how we can make our voices heard. Calvin wrote the letter above immediately after our conversation and asked me to "send it to the people in charge of the war". Once it was ready to go to Senator Snowe, he asked, " when she gets this, will the wars stop?". Oh, my beautiful, beautiful child. I always tell my children the truth, but with all my heart I wanted so much to lie to him today.
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Greetings! I'm Amanda Blake Soule - mother of five, author of four books on family creativity, editor & owner of Taproot Magazine. I live with my family in an old farmhouse in Western Maine where we raise animals, grow vegetables and make lots of things. I write about it all here on the blog. Thank you for visiting!
