Happy Holidays from Maureen

Kaleidoscope Konnections:

Peace and Personhood
December 23, 2010

Greetings from Maureen

Many times in my life I have failed to make or bring peace. I know that sometimes I've actually created some painful situations. Peace, as we all know, is something to strive for but not easily attained. As we move toward the new year, I invite you to think with me about the role peace plays in our own lives and the lives of others. Would you agree with me that living a life of peace is a challenge and a continual journey and learning experience?

Have you ever thought about how your years in high school have affected what you do and who you are today? That question came up for me recently at my 40^th high school reunion of East Orange Catholic High in New Jersey. Denise Nemith Bellog-my longtime friend and greatest cheerleader-had nominated me to receive the Sister Eileen Bradshaw 2010 Caritas Award from the Alumni Association. And I won! I was deeply honored and moved to know that the work I do worldwide as a compassionate clown also touches the lives of my friends and neighbors.

The theme song at East Orange Catholic High (EOCH) was "Let There Be Peace on Earth." I learned to play the guitar in high school, so not only was that song engrained in my fingertips from playing it at every school function and mass, it also became engrained in my heart and spirit. Throughout my career, I have strived to bring typically developing children together with children with special needs to play peacefully together and learn from one another. And the clown presentations I write for our troupe to perform deal with making friends and being peaceful with others. Our worldwide clown outreach trips represent peace and hope on a worldwide scale.

How did those high school years influence who you are and what you've done, do now, and will do in the future?

At this holiday season, may you be blessed with a peace that passes all understanding and as the song goes on to say, "...and let it begin with me." Reach out in new ways to offer peace to another!

Blessings,

Maureen

This holiday season, as always, Kaleidoscope Konnections is deeply grateful for your financial support. Please give as generously as you are able!

P.S. At the 40^th EOCH reunion Denise read a tribute to me, and included the words to the song "For Good" from the Broadway show Wicked. We attended this show together in NYC. In friendship and love, I'd like to share the words of this song with you.

For Good

I've heard it said that people come into our lives for a reason

Bringing something we must learn and we are led

To those who help us most to grow

If we let them

And we help them in return

Well, I don't know if I believe that's true

But I know I'm who I am today because I knew you

Like a comet pulled from orbit as it passes a

Like a stream that meets a boulder

Halfway through the wood

Who can say if I've been changed for the better?

But because I knew you

I have been changed for good

It may well be

That we will never meet again

In this lifetime

So let me say before we part

So much of me

Is made of what I learned from you

You'll be with me

Like a handprint on my heart

And now whatever way our stories end

I know you have rewritten mine

By being my friend

Like a ship blown from its mooring

By a wind off the sea

Like a seed dropped by a skybird

In a distant wood

Who can say if I've been changed for the better?

But because I knew you

I have been changed for good

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