Thanks for Being Our Valentine!

Dear ROPnet, 

The interconnections between communities and human dignity groups is what makes ROP strong. Thank you to everyone who shared their love this month by submitting Valentines to Rural Organizers, and thank you to all of you who show your love for rural Oregon through your daily work for justice and human dignity! Read on to see the Valentines shared as just a snapshot of all the gratitude we hold for each and every human dignity group across this powerful network. Whether you’re celebrating a local victory or working on getting your group back together in the midst of COVID-19 disruption, you are a source of hope and joy for those around you.

Thanks for being our valentine. 

With Love, 
Emma and the ROP team

From Margaret in Baker County, a quote from the Dalai Lama:

“My religion is very simple.  My religion is kindness.”

From Karen in Benton County:

From the ROP staff team, a quote from the article “Catch the Wind” by Kim Phinney:

“Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t catch the wind. Your story is not written on the pavement, alleys, and benches of urban America. You come from greatness. Your legacy is on the shoulders of those who danced and vogued across the barn floorboards, stole kisses beside the rivers, took out mortgages at the only bank in town, wept outside of tiny hospitals, applied for marriage licenses at town offices, and brought rainbow cookies to the school bake sale.”

Lucy in Multnomah County sent in a recorded valentine. Listen here to Lucy reading this Howard Zinn quote:

“…An optimist isn’t necessarily a blithe, slightly sappy whistler in the dark of our time. To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places–and there are so many–where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”

Will in Clackamas County submitted a song and a poem:

Nature Boy sang by Nat King Cole, written in 1947 by Eden Ahbez. Listen here, or read the lyrics below!

There was a boy,

a very strange enchanted boy.

They say he wandered very far, very far

over land and sea.

A little shy,

and sad of eye,

but very wise was he.

And then one day,

one magic day he came my way,

and as we spoke of many things,

fools and kings,

this he said to me:

“The greatest thing

you’ll ever learn

is just to love

and be loved in return.”

“The greatest thing

you’ll ever learn

is just to love

and be loved in return.”

———————

If…

If we but grew

from those who knew

the wondrous things:

the joys of Springs,

the peace of nights,

the Earth’s delights,

in truth, we’d be

divine and free.

And we do.

And we are.

——————————————

Thanks for all you do, and all you help others to do.

From Nancy in Linn County: