Ethnic Festing

I'm sorry about not posting sooner. Extremely busy. I also haven't brought my computer out of town with me when I go.

Today I left early for Ethnic Fest in Wright Park, downtown Tacoma, WA, arriving on time for a good parking spot and in time to help set up the dual Baha'i booth for teaching people who wander by. One side of the booth is full of information for people to look at or take with them as they learn about the most recent messenger or reflection of God for this day. The other side of the booth is dedicated to children and their parents. It's very simple: using different colored "pony" beads reminiscent of diverse human skin shades, children are assisted to construct a simple bracelet to take with them. They learn as they do this about the principle of unity in diversity, which is pretty much the underlying theme in Ethnic Fest.

My self-appointed task is to sit well behind the booth, I hope unobtrusively, praying for the success of the teaching efforts. I bring a portable chair, water, prayer books, and go for it.

To my surprise today, there was a booth for a walking fitness organization across the way from the Baha'i booth, demonstrating their walking routine with joy and enthusiasm, which I appreciated. The surprise was that I recognized one of my co-workers. This is an individual with whom my relationship at work has always been very difficult. However, the prayers I was saying were very powerful, so I think I was much more willing to let go of previous feelings about this lady. I went to greet her at the end of her routine, gave her a balloon and a hug. We're scheduled to work together on Wednesday and Thursday, so I'll continue to pray and to visualize us being happy and working together with harmony.

Saying prayers for an extended length of time, especially aloud, is strenuous. Saying prayers aloud feels too strange in my house; I used to have a critical husband, so I got used to reading prayers to myself. In the surrounding cacophony of the festival, with several stages of music in various parts of the park, my voice is conveniently swallowed up, so I feel more free to read aloud. Anyway, I think tomorrow I'll bring much more water.

When I say prayers for most of a day it tends to remind me of the Babi heroine Tahirih who prayed all night prior to her martyrdom; then she donned a gown fit for a wedding, and handed a lovely handkerchief to her executioners with which to strangle her, and in a spirit of great love, devotion and detachment, went to reunite with her Maker.

I'm working at memorizing the authorized Farsi version of this verse from the Kitab-i-Iqan:

How resplendent the luminaries of knowledge that shine in an atom, and how vast the oceans of wisdom that surge within a drop.

~Baha'u'llah

My non-official transliteration into Anglicized syllables:

Cheh aftahb hawyeh
mah'aref keh dar zareh
mastur shadeh
va bahrhawyeh
hekmet keh dar qatreh
penhangashteh.

See the rhyme? We don't get that in English. Cool, huh?