My Article published in DOVE TALES: LITERARY JOURNAL OF THE ARTS
The Deadliest Contagion: writing for peace, rayla noel:
That first time I watched ‘Gandhi’, one scene followed me out of the theater door: the one with native police and advancing marchers. Row after row, they went down battered and bloodied, and not one of them raised an arm in defense. Martin Luther King Jr. said it was this Salt March movement that deeply influenced his own philosophy of civil disobedience. Gandhi’s handful of salt at Dandi would change the way we read Resistance.
Shifting Plates
When I was 8 years old we lived in a rental home next to land lady Vanima’s cottage.
She wore a 7 yard sari and gold anklets to underline her ‘high’ caste. How we even got to rent their place beats me, but if our shadow so much as fell across them on certain nights/days there was serious ritual cleansing that followed. Vanima would chant out loud, cover her head, and slam her front door against ills that might arrive at her from us. My mother was a teacher and my father worked a few miles away in a coastal town we visited every weekend, but on week days we had to brave our new address. Both our front steps ran together. Curiously, we shared the same walls and well—the projecting concrete brickwork over the top of well just about covered her face from ours. It was ridiculously awkward…...read more
The Deadliest Contagion https://writingforpeace.org/rayla-noel/
Developing empathy and peaceful activism through creative writing
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Innerdialects 
Congratulations on the published article Rayla! As I read through it, it made me mindful of how there are parts of the world that have different social structures and history that I have never had to deal with, yet we all in our own way, have things that have transpired in the past, that are still with us, even though most would like to say that times have changed. The remnants of injustice and inequality from the past come in many forms and are still with us today and no one is immune from their effects, no matter where we live. Strange how some of humanity, regardless of where it lives, finds a way to lift up themselves and subjugate others. Our life experiences are different, yet we share common insight into how things are and how they should be. I remember Gandhi saying that he liked Jesus but he wasn’t too impressed with His followers and sadly there is some truth to his observation. We obviously can’t change how everyone thinks but how we interact with others and how we endeavour to respect others, that we do meet, with God’s grace, can change perceptions and ultimately hearts, when Jesus is introduced into the equation. You have a gentle and warm heart and it consistently comes through as such. I applaud your endeavours. God’s grace, peace and blessings on you and yours. – Bruce
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Oh thank you my big brother Bruce for those words, they are true and painfully so.
Life’s history is watched, it cannot all be explained leave alone fathomed.
Gandhi and Jesu… phew. What can I say from my not so little Peninsula rich with questions.
God holds us all in our core whether we like it or not. Love is non fiction. It is creative. It can change the dreams you dream, It crucifies self. The Love of God is real, as real as evil. When we taste the Blood of that difference we know where Peace is from. It cannot be generated by our niceness alone.
Thankyou for being here and for caring below the surface.
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Every post of yours is my fav!
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That’s a big compliment coming from you!
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So proud this got published on DoveTales!
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😃
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Again, I am so grateful for your posts. As I learn more about your life and history, as I am inspired by your thoughts and insights, I am changed. Thank you for this. I am sharing it with my family. Love to you and yours, my friend. We are US, together. ❤
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That’s so special to hear from you my brilliant blogger friend. I’m humbled to hear this affects you the way you say? Infact it changes me too, the words that spill.
Karen you lovely person, you are a great influencer yourself!
Sure go ahead, I’d love to know what they think too.
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I will! Thank you.
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Thankyou so much!
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Beautifully done my dear friend. Congratulations on your publication, that is just wonderful. It is a lovely story about how we can by being humble turn a family of people that normally would not talk to us, end up accepting us, “like sisters.” Just beautiful. Love you my friend and your lovely family. Joni
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