Peace

For several years I went on float trips on the Buffalo River in Northwest Arkansas. I took groups of church campers, and I know that Girl Scout troops and Boy Scout troops also canoe on the Buffalo. It’s a small river, just 150 miles in length. It was the first river to be designated a National River, and, as such, it is overseen by the National Park Service.

According to Wikipedia, “The National River designation protects natural rivers from industrial uses, impoundments and other obstructions that may change the natural character of the river or disrupt the natural habitat for the flora and fauna that live in or near the river.” I remember some of the political arguments and bickering before it was declared a National River. It is the last free-flowing (undammed) stream in Arkansas.

Yesterday, in Sunday School, we were talking about Girl Scouts, and the recently ended cookie sale, and someone began talking about old camp songs. Someone brought up “Peace I Ask of Thee, O River,” and I was immediately transported back to the Buffalo.

(If I’ve given you an earworm, you can thank me later.)

photo credit: Flickr Creative Commons

 

In the News

Who are three people in history you admire most and why? (When I was making my list, I realized that the people I really admire are people who have touched me personally and currently. Historical figures don’t really impress me.)

• Juliette Gordon Low – the founder of the Girl Scouts.

I was a Girl Scout for most of the first 35 years of my life, and I really appreciate the skills and responsibility I learned. That’s where I learned it was okay to fail, and that’s where I learned I was capable of functioning alone – without my family if I had to (not that I wanted to).

• Ree Drummond – the Pioneer Woman.

She lives on a ranch, loves her family, cooks, blogs, home schools, gardens, and “works cattle.” She does it all! And she never takes herself too seriously.

• Margaret Aymer Oget – Presbyterian minister and professor at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta.

She is a Greek and Latin scholar, a New Testament professor, an immigrant from the West Indies, and one of the most articulate, loving, and right-headed women I know. She is the author of the current Horizon‘s Bible Study for Presbyterian Women.

What have been the three biggest news events during your lifetime and why?

• Man’s landing on the moon.

Because we reached for the stars, and got most of the way there. It gave me hope.

• Watergate.

Because it marked my loss of innocence, and the beginning of my distrust of public figures.

• 9/11.

Because it changed the country from an open and accepting society to something closed and selfish.