Mary Wright, pág 37

Mary Wright

Mary Wright is a singer, writer, poet, songwriter and mother of four beautiful children. Mary’s accomplishments not only embody raising four children, as a single mother, but also include: Voice and Music Theory at the Royal Conservatory of Music; acting in theatre and films; self-publishing three poetry chap books, “Poetry By Mary Wright”; a songbook, “The Shadow”; a novel, “Healing The Spirit Inside Out” (2001); released a CD, The Shadow (2002); and a children’s book, “How Miriam Met Her Shadow” in the Spring of 2004. During 2003 to 2018, Mary performed her songs, read her poetry and children’s book at various venues across Canada; contributed her writings to the Atkinson Poetry Club’s yearly poetry book, “A View On The Garden”; became an Associate Director of WIAProjects; a speaker/panellist at the International Black Women of Congress Conference held in Toronto; spoke at the 2nd Annual Health Disparity Conference in the Teachers College at Columbia University in New York; joined The Alliance for A Poverty Free Toronto (APT), a sub-committee of Social Planning Toronto; showcased her fine artwork with CWSE at OISE and at the Jamaican Canadian Association; and the list goes on…. Always curious and continuously learning, Mary intends to continue sharing her experiences through the written and fine arts.

PEACE IS EVERY STEP I TAKE

I have been born, raised and live in a peace less system on a world called Earth. I have never truly known peace, or have had very little of it because this system doesn’t allow peace (like hope) to exit long enough for it to be felt and known. The governments and their institutional experts, the commercial Medias and their offshoots, my family, friends and social groups, the usual suspects, have flooded my mind and five-senses with their ideas and images of peace from birth to now. And it goes on the same way with others, generation after generation. On Sunday, December 09, 2012, I saw the most beautiful Sunset. A Sunset I had not seen in 16 years. The first time I saw a Sunset like this was in April 1989, when I went to back to Jamaica to bury my father. I was in Montego Bay, where Frank my partner, my twin sister and her husband and I were staying at a small seaside chateau, where this man from Australia was staying too. After Frank went to lie down, I went to stand on the veranda where I could look at the sea and watch the airplanes land. Suddenly, everything became so quite. I heard a slight rustling sound behind me and turned around to see what was there. It was the Australian man who was staying in the room next to ours. He walked closer and stood beside me. He said, “Look up into the sky.” I did. We silently watched the Sunset until it disappeared into the sea. Everything turned to darkness. Then he said, “My name is Peter”. What is your name?” I replied, “Mary”. He looked at me and said, “That is my wife’s name too.” We spoke about our reasons for being in Jamaica, our next destinations within the country and when we were leaving the chateau. I remember what Peter had said, “I should always watch the Sunset.” It was the most beautiful Sunset I had ever seen then and again on this December day. I stood on the pathway where I lived around Oriole Parkway in Toronto. As I watched the Sunset in awe, tears running down my face, a young woman came up behind me from what seemed out of nowhere. She said, “Something is reminding us that there is still goodness and warmth in the world.” Then again she said, “Look at the Sunset, isn’t beautiful. That is what Peace is about. Peace comes from inside.” I responded back, “It is not happiness, it is something totally different.” We continued to look up into the sky, as I did with the Australian man in1989. I asked her, “Did the Creator send you to remind me that every step I take each day must be a peaceful one in my life? “She laughed, and then replied, “Yes. God always sends someone to remind us when we forget.” I said to her, “No one in the world can change, nor stop the sun from setting. No matter how many bombs and guns we humans rain down on each other, the Sun still sets in the West every day.” We walked together still talking about the peacefulness of the Sunset. I said, “Let’s close our eyes, and make a wish.” Seconds after, we opened our eyes. The young woman looks at me and takes a deep breath. She said, “Let’s continue to take deep breaths slowly while we gaze at the Sunset.” She inhales deeply and sighs, a deep sigh. The cold December air created a cloud of breath as she exhaled. I breathed deeply and exhaled slowly. I made my own wishes, and smiled up at her. We walked in silence until I arrived at my door. I decided not to tell her my wishes. We never asked each other our names. As I remember gazing at the orange glow that stretched across the sky and the two strangers who shared those two very special moments with me, I am reminded that the universe is the force of peace, the energy of creativity, of love and compassion. I know that peace is more than saying nothing to each other in the store or on the train, or in our neighbourhood. It does not value people as less or better than because of higher training or status. It does not dupe others in believing they belong or a part of something or a country when actions show they are truly not. It does not lie that it comes in the form of democracy around the world dropping bombs, sending Peace Keepers to kill for another people’s land, causing millions of deaths, famine and homelessness. Peace does not create wars, take lives, nor crush the energy of others. It does not allow murder and molestations to go unchecked and stamped with approval. It does not force and control others to be and think like someone else in its name, or for any reason. It is not blind faith. Even now, during the nearly two years of the COVID-19 Pandemic that has been created to rob us of our peace (death of our freedom, livelihoods and lives); I bring back the memories of those two Sunsets to stay grounded in what peace is and feels like to me. I have learned and am learning that Peace is the path of taking one step at a time. Peace creates friendships of the heart/soul, gentleness and mindfulness of the body. It heals the mind and calms the emotions. Everything it touches grows in kindness, wisdom and power. Peace is greatness which never stops growing, learning and connecting to the life source of the soul. Peace is the transformation of one’s life. Peace is beyond whiteness and the different shades of earthliness. Peace is loving and caring for oneself as well, and much, as others. Peace is oneness like the water gently flowing down the mountain, along the valley, into the rivers, into the lakes and then into the sea. Peace is being with and content with oneself from the inside out. Peace knows how to communicate, brings trust and truth with it. Peace is the enemy of malice and all its agents: usery, pretense, hate, anger, lies, deceptions, jealousy, envy, murder and the rest of the ongoing list of its dis-eases we enlightened humans are so quick to embrace. Peace forces truth to come to light. Peace is reaching out with love and compassion to the greater self of the universe and others. It knows that the universe is our conqueror in times of great challenges. It is the quietness and the awareness of the internal journey of the greater self which connects us to everything and everyone around us. Peace has to begin with me first, and then out to others through understanding and acceptance. Peace is the love that never fades. It is the light that guides and maintains the energy of love in every step I take each day.