Todays was the opening of Women's Division meeting. We were up at the Interchurch Center, a beautiful building and a sister to my supervised ministry site, the CCUN. When I got there, I was told that in the same building, Leymah Gbowee was doing a book signing and to promote a new PBS series called Women, War, and Peace.
Leymah Gbowee was one of three women who won a Nobel Peace Prize this morning.
We were changing the schedule of the meetings so everyone could attending the signing. Of course, it quickly moved from a signing to an event with press and her talking and a lot more than the 35 people they'd originally expected. So we entered the chapel at 3pm and waited for her to enter the room. She came in to a sustained standing ovation, and then took to the mic. She talked for a few minutes and then took questions. It was pretty incredible. I've put all the quotes below that I could write down, I'll try to provide context if needed, but hopefully some of her words of wisdom will inspire you. I left the room glowing, it was amazing to be with someone who has such a powerful presence.
I found out later how she found about winning. She was on a flight to New York for the book signing event when her publicist emailed her that she'd won. The people around her were asleep or engrossed in their own books. She tapped a guy near her and said "hey, I just won the Nobel Peace Prize." Someone near them googled it, held up the iPad and said "it IS her."
Here are some bits of her talk to us this afternoon. None of it was prepared. She's hilarious, warm and brilliant. I am so grateful I had the opportunity to be in her presence on such a huge day for her:
After leading us in singing This Little Light of Mine: "In the past 16 years, I've done nothing great but let my light shine."
"You can never say you are bringing peace if you only bring it to half the people."
"Liberia has activists, but what they lack are resources. America has resources, but it lacks true activists."
As part of a larger discussion about sending our resources to other countries. "You send your teachers to Rwanda to teach children how to read when down the street in Brooklyn, children still can't read."
"We three women who won this prize today didn't go out to change the world, we just wanted to transform our communities."
"Go out and change your community, make change in your backyard and then you can share you lessons with the world."
She was asked about what she would say to Congress. She said "I still need to get my visa. So I'll only say what I would say to Liberia." ..."It's no longer enough for you to just vote for people who will not stand up for you."
"There is a saying 'He who is down fears no fall.' If I am already down, I can speak truth."
"There is nowhere in the world that violence has solved anything."
"You cannot just say 'I will impart peace in the form of a jet bomber.' It has never worked."
"Let our advocacy hit straight home."
"We are too worried about making people uncomfortable. There is nothing comfortable about an abused woman. There is nothing comfortable about a rape victim. There is nothing comfortable about the objectification of our young women. We need to start making people uncomfortable."
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