April Just Posts

Just One.

As I pondered on my topic for this month's roundtable introduction, I thought about how we can only do good in the world if we are first good to ourselves. If our well is dry, we'll not look outside the walls of our own homes and into the lives of others. If we've lost our voice, we'll not be able to talk about what we believe in. And if we lose that, we lose everything.

I've experienced this lately, and the desire to draw inward has superceded my will to do good for the first time in many years. I can see how easy it is to turn off, to close the windows, to stop feeling the world. While I might visit here temporarily, I cannot stomach residing here. The colors are cloudy without the passion and determination for the things I believe in. Which is why when times of drought we have a community we can lean on and allow others to carry the water for a while. But only for a while, because we must be the change we want to see in the world, and that starts inside each of us and radiates outward.

So this month, for myself and for all of you, I wish for peace, I wish for determination, and I wish for compassion; for ourselves and for our world. And I challenge you as I've challenged myself: allow yourself to be moved by the suffering and the beauty in our world.

The writers of our April Just Posts have all done just that in a variety of ways; whether it's grieving over the tragedies of the past month, pondering the ongoing state of affairs, or being moved by unspeakable beauty or suffering. It's all captured here with many voices singing many different songs. And you've chosen to share that energy with others, and I have to believe that alters the vibrations on the side of good. Thank you for carrying my water.

Ann with an uneven playing field
Andrea with crime and punishment
Slouching Mom with we-could-try-not-going-gentle-into-that
Chani with forced-therapy-and-cho-seung-hui and you'll have to pry my multivitamins out of my cold dead fingers and gun control
Cecilieaux with information free society
Mad with because smart women turn me on
Bon with mercy in the world
Crazymum with woman-on-streetcar-i-saw-her
Venessa with i-have-been-thinking-about-this
Redneck Mommy with looking-for-a-hand-out
Neen with it's not too late
Bad with darkness-calls-me-every-night
Jen with hard on the outside, unexpected gospel and my friend bob
Gwen with this-little-light-of-mine
John with rockwell and ruby
Little Monkies with a new day is dawning, America
Alejna with last minute earth day gifts
Lucia with oventic
Julie with Justice and Forgiveness Pt 1, Pt. 2 and just reporting a tragic story
KC with getting to 2nd base and closed doors
Alice with spring flings and baby warriors and stranger in a strange land
Susanne with my son wanted pink shoes
Jenn Satterwhite with The Twilight Zone and teaching understanding of disabilities
Mouse with putting plastic on notice and natural vs. synthetic
Karen with At nearly 33 years old
Girl con Queso with I won't do this story justice
S. with blogging against disablism

Many of these posts were submitted by the women below. Thank you for making sure we didn't miss a thing.

Chani
Anne
KC
Susanne
Lawyer Mama
Jess
Flutter
Alejna
Hel
Kim
Catherine
Mad

Don't forget to stop by Mad's end of the table to see what's rattling around in her soul this month. If you want to get on the mailing list for next month's just post roundtable, email me at girlplustwo(at)yahoo(dot)com. We're here every month on the 10th, and it's our sixth month anniversary next time, and as such I expect to pull out all the stops.