So many can’t these days. If there was ever a time for this stunning, spiritual piece by Wings, this is it.
A Message of Stewardship and Community, a Prayer to Heal the Earth
Now posted at The NDN Silver Blog, it's a medicine prayer in miniature, ceremony and community in a wearable work of art. On this day, with climate and weather unsettled, Mother Earth in pain and her children suffering terrible loss in some quarters, it's a message of stewardship and community, a prayer to heal the earth.
There’s too much suffering. I don’t know how much more the heart can hold. There’s too much uncertainty, including for Aji and Wings. They’re so close to getting the home they desperately need finished. So close.
They have lights!
They even have hot water, at least upstairs. The kitchen and bathroom need to be finished before they have hot water downstairs. Flooring needs to be put in before the kitchen and the rest can be done. The labor costs from the tile being put in and the rest are gong to be substantial.
The list goes on. But they’re so close. They’ve come such a long way since the bare earth lay waiting for the build to begin. Unfortunately the stress from pushing through the long months of the build has taken a toll. Aji’s on-going health problems have flared up in a big way. She is in pain, barely walking, and typical Aji, pushing herself to keep going when she should be resting.
They’re so close. They just need some help to get them out of the dangerous, mold infested, freezing in winter, roasting in summer, fire prone, tin can of an RV that they have barely survived in over the last seven years.
They just need some help so their health issues will not get worse. They just need some help so they can have a safe home.
Aji didn’t want me to do this post today. Like all of us, she’s worried about the folks in the path of Hurricane Irma and devastated by Trump’s repeal of DACA. She and Wings will do all that they can to help. It’s what she and Wings always do, putting off what they need in order to help others.
But I’m ornery, knew the turn her health had taken for the worse, and needed to be able to do something to help them now. I needed to be able to help someone on this difficult, heartbreaking, day. Like all of us, I will help those in Irma’s path and our Dreamers who have been treated so abhorrently. But right now, I need to do this. For their sakes. For mine. For all of us who need hope.
Right now, this moment, we can help Aji and Wings move that much closer to having badly needed shelter. Right now, we can help reduce the stressors that are impacting her health. Right now, we can be reminded that, together, we work miracles great and small.
I need to be reminded of that in order to keep going. We all need that reminder in order to keep from being overwhelmed. Together, we’ll be able to see Aji and Wings move into their new home before the first snow falls in October. Then. together, we’ll do what’s next to improve life for others, whatever that may be. After all, it is what this community has always done. We’re not about to stop now.
We can change the world — one act of kindness in this age of cruelty, at a time.
So please share the links below, or if you are able, make a donation or buy a gift card. It is Wing’s extraordinary silver work and photography that has and is funding the majority of the work on their house. Shares of the link to his website, and to Aji’s, help drive sales. It’s that simple.
Sales make all the difference. Everything does. Your kindness will help determine if they are freezing or warm this winter. The temperature is dropping.
It's also the first real sign of winter, which here will hit far sooner than much of the rest of the country, given our altitude. We have to be in the house before that point. And by "have to," I mean there is no margin for error this year, for many reasons, and so we have to get a huge amount done on the house in about the next four weeks. It's going to be hugely expensive, too. And the last two weeks have drained our resources, both financially and physically.
Right now, I'm simply not well enough physically to do much more. So here, once again, are the links — and as I've said the last couple of days, with one big change: I'm putting Wings's PayPal link back at the top. The last two weeks have not wiped us out completely, but they've put a huge hole in our reserves. This whole process has been a marathon made up of many sprints, and when we can, we have to push as hard and far and fast as we can through whatever stages are immediately doable, until we can't. Then it's scrounging and chasing funding, and then we gear up for the next sprint. We just ended one of those (not finished, precisely, because we didn't have the kind of funds available to get us as far as we wanted), and the problems with the plumbing and septic left a big hole in our available resources. We are approaching a standstill on the interior of the house if the tile can't get done, and given that we expect that to start sometime in the coming week, it's essential. So I'm back to robbing Peter to pay Paul with regard to specific tasks (because as always, the labor is eating us alive). But we will be at a standstill again anyway if I can't find a way to get all of these last big tasks funded. Beyond cash, Home Depot cards are still most useful right now, because there is still a kitchen to . . . well, create. I've also added some old items back onto the Amazon wishlist, namely stuff for the animals. I have to add a few other such items, too, but I just haven't had time even to think about it yet. Anyway, here are the links:
- Wings's direct PayPal link;
- Wings's site, for sales;
- Lowe's cards (the physical version) via our Amazon wishlist;
- Lowe's e-cards (delivered via e-mail) here; and
- Home Depot cards via the company site. The e-version using my e-mail address is great; I take the tablet to the store with me, and they scan it off the screen.
Please share them all, as much as possible. The temperatures are falling. Aji and Wings will not make it through another winter in that freezing, unsafe, tin can of an RV. We can ensure that they’re warm and safe.
That is my prayer tonight. One of many. Your kindness, your caring, is always the answer.
Love, blessings, and deepest gratitude to everyone,
Wednesday, Sep 6, 2017 · 4:49:24 AM +00:00 · Onomastic
I’m delighted to report that the first match has been met and am waiting on confirmation on the second match. Honestly, I had not assumed such a lovely outpouring of support on such a difficult day. I should have known better. This community is the best and i can’t thank you enough.