Guest post-OMB Coming Together

You'll notice that lately we've been talking a lot about State Coordinators.  What the heck is going on, you might be thinking.  At the end of the summer, we received a very generous grant to allow us to hire coordinators around the country to work on the One Million Bones project in their communities. First, it's important to know, each coordinator is receiving a small stipend, and so the incredible amount of work they are doing is because they are dedicated and passionate about peace building and social justice. And we appreciate and love them all for that!

Today, we're sharing a blog post written by Oregon State Coordinator, Alysha Atma.  She is the founder of her own non-profit in Oregon, The Atma Foundation. Her inspiring blog post begins the story of how she is approaching the work of being a state coordinator from a wonderful perspective of bringing communities together.

From Alysha:

OMB – Coming Together

Why Bones?

Bones are universal. Bones are strong. Bones symbolize our common humanity. And, they are poignant reminders of unnecessary and preventable loss. They are the physical evidence that individuals, people, ever existed. The bone laying is the intersection of art and activism, of education and mass atrocities as well as reminds us that we belong to each other.

This is what this project means to me, TOGETHER. Our ability to see one another as each other, to smile, laugh and dance together no matter the distance, language, culture or ethnicity. This is the message that I want to amplify in Oregon, how we are all alike, UNIFIED in our differences.

7, 000 bones is my commitment, 7,000 voices are what I hear. Coming from Oregon, I am lucky to be surrounded by so much support, friendship and so many eager participants. My vision is a huge umbrella – which might literally be the case as we are here in Oregon; happiness IS rain – under which we all lay the bones of others. Christians, Muslims, Artists, Jews, Teachers, Advocates, Students, Indians, the LGBTQ community, Politicians, Mothers, Children, Sudanese, Survivors, Professionals, Runners, and Congolese; we all fit together as humans full of love, laughter, anger, frustration and compassion. This is the highlight, like pieces of a puzzle coming together to create a large, breathing picture.

So doing what I do best, I called, emailed, knocked on doors and asked for help, knowing that together 7,000 bones was the process but the outcome was so much bigger. Saying yes, we have and are coming together; the project is beginning to take shape, only it is no longer my vision but OUR vision, and that of the communities we represent.

All those identities listed above, they all have a leading voice that will represent their community as a whole; but what is even more special, is they all will take part, bringing their passion, art and words forward. 1,000 bones is the commitment of each community, what was once 7,000 voices are turning into 10,000. We will be coming together in April at the Oregon Holocaust Memorial, to stand together against genocide and mass atrocities. Coming together as one, very amplified voice in UNITY for a more just and peace-filled world that we all believe is possible to foresee.

We are blessed to have one another, no matter our difference; we are all the same in OUR vision for the future. We are all committed to hearing, respecting and learning from our differences and knowing that is what makes us stronger.