Peacefull Susan clowning for a Culture of Peace

I met a marvellous person at the weekend. It was the Mid-Winter Gathering of the Victorian Regional Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) at Amberley. (Pictures above taken at Amberley last week-end by Miss Eagle.)

Her name is Susan Carew

who does funny business as Peacefull the Clown.

Susan is all about empowering communities. She is a Rotary Peace Scholar, a conflict resolution trainer/educator and a World Peace Clown. She travelled to Russia with Dr Patch Adams and believes that positive humour and crative action can facilitate a change to a better society. Can I say how wonderfully Susan performed beguiling young and old alike and setting a way before us, a path to follow. If you go to this website, you will find that we are in the middle of The International Decade for the Culture of Peace .To find out more about the Culture of Peace Initiative please go here.

Click to enlarge

Susan's world view is summed up by her poem 'The Gift'.

THE GIFT

My highest wish is happiness,

It is the gift I give to all,

To see the smiling faces,

To catch them before they fall.

To be a clown,

Is like surround sound,

It spreads a ray of sunshine,

To all without discrimination,

Without impatience,

To see the world as one,

To inspire and have some fun.

I have no enemies,

I have no-one to hate,

To me there is no nation state,

I see the world as my family,

I just want to bring them home,

Into the warmth of love and kindness,

So no-one feels alone.

I see every story,

In its real glory,

I know the potential of what can be,

I long to set them free,

Into a world of their own making,

Into a world that is no longer breaking into fragments of glass,

Shards of misunderstanding,

Where we see only a fraction of what is true,

We assume that it is not safe,

That is the myth,

That is the spin,

That disempowers and tries to win.

One truth is that life begins,

When we step out of the comfort zone,

The boundaries of insecurity build walls,

We are not alone,

And when we step out of illusion,

Of misconceptions,

We realize that there is no fear,

That there are many tears,

That are flowing down the rivers of separation,

But they will reach the headwater,

They will unite in the end,

The journey is the experience,

That life sends.

I believe in peace,

I believe in goodness,

I believe in action,

I know that for every cause there is an equal and opposite reaction.

My life is dedicated to principle,

I know the answers are simple,

When you throw away judgment,

When you throw away hurt,

When you throw away hate,

And think about what you’ve learned.

Under the canopy of respect,

You will never reject,

The will of others,

They must travel their own path,

We need to learn to laugh,

Life is the comedy,

Perhaps I am the fool,

But just maybe,

That’s the school for world peace.