| “Why are you having a
meeting on Valentine’s Day?” This was indeed a good question.
Fortunately, the Human Rights and Status of Women committee members knew
the answer: “For the same reason as we had one on
Dec. 6," they replied.
Dec. 6 is the day when Canadian women remember the women victims of the
Montreal Massacre. It is also the day when posters created by students,
encouraged by District 11 members to bring their artistic and persuasive
powers to bear on peers to join Canadian men in vowing that this event
would never happen again, were taken down from school walls to be
entered in the district contest.
The idea had been germinating for over a year. The posters had been
available for others to see. Now, they were judged by the committee with
expert advice from a professional artist. “Impossible” he said, “you
cannot judge hand-drawn against computer-assisted art.” The committee
agreed, immediately creating three more prizes so that there could be a
first, second and third prize in each category. Then, having faced that
daunting task, they made another decision: the committee would not be
the only ones to see the top works. Not only would they print for
distributions the top poster, they would print the top three in each
category. These sets of posters then would be available in the 2007
anti-violence campaign.
“Who should be there?” was the next question as the committee considered
the awarding of the prizes. The student artists? Of course. The teachers
who led them to this fabulous artwork? Our members are always welcome at
Human Rights and Status of Women meetings, but doubly so on an occasion
like this. Parents? Naturally! The Press? Yes, indeed; this fine work on
the part of district members and those they teach should be known,
praised and published.
But why Valentine’s Day? Because love is not violence. Because love is
what motivated OSSTF members to go to Mississippi after Katrina to help
with the clean-up and to contribute to Sri Lanka where shelter for
families needed to be built. Because love is protecting someone from
harm in the way that the second Common Threads document teaches
students.
At the early departure, everyone agreed it had been a lovely time. Look
for more Action Resource Launch Parties on various and unlikely dates in
the Spring!
|
