Realizing Ordinary: Outside the Windows

Thursday, March 05, 2009

Ordinary Hero: Jarvenpa

For courage to write the truth as she lives it
For unfailing compassion
For anger in the face of injustice
For love of all beings, great and small
For unstinting generosity to those society rejects
For willingness to sit with another in pain
For persistence in working to right wrong
For resilience
For keeping her heart open when it would be so much easier to close

And for making her piece of the world better, one day at a time, in the most Ordinary of ways,

The first Ordinary Heroes award is extended to Jarvenpa, whose blog Outside the Windows is vibrant, passionate, full of nit and grit, and revealing of a heart so broken, so healed, so big with love that anyone looking in can only be healed in turn. If that weren't enough, Windows is a damn good read.

I discovered Jarvenpa through another blogger's link several years ago. Yes, she writes beautifully, which makes it easy to see her world and almost to believe I feel what she is feeling. But it is her consistency in eating grief again and again--and recovering, in seeing beauty at every turn when she could see ruin, and in helping those who can least help themselves, though they keep on trying--the wounded, scarred people who show up on her doorstep with addictions, mental illnesses, hearts broken beyond coping in a material world--that inspires and motivates me. Her stories are pure life as she experiences it in her Northern California bookstore and garden, on the streets of her town--visceral, real, immediate, heart-jolting.

Give a shout to Jarvenpa, then sit down with a nice hot cup and get to know a woman whose life makes the vision of the Village of Ordinary seem closer and closer today.

Wow. While I was away on vacation, Michelle of Crow's Feet, a recent find that quickly became a favorite and part of my blogroll, posted an "E is for Excellent" award for Realizing Ordinary. Thank you, Michelle!

The best part of the award, is that it earns me the right pass it along to some of the blogs I enjoy. These are favorites because they get right down to the nitty gritty of the writer's daily life and/or make cogent commentary about the environment, politics and our world. They're well-written. They show us all how to face the crud with the good and to do it with grace. Quite often they include a bit of humor. Enjoy.

Ordinary Heroes Award

They are everywhere. In corporate highrises and in remote villages miles far from cell phone towers. They're sitting next to you on the bus. They're building schools in Africa. They're pounding the marble halls of Congress, seeking protection for our children, our health, our food, water, air and planet. They save heirloom seeds, plant organic gardens, teach the rest of us how to adopt sustainable lifestyles in our throw-away, buy-more culture. They save the forests, rivers and oceans without which we cannot survive.Their work brings the vision of the Village of Ordinary a little closer to reality every day. They show us how wonderfully possible it is to live in a world much like Ordinary right now. They are my Ordinary Heroes. I tell their stories on this blog frequently, because it is people like them, people like you and me, who are building Ordinary.

Human relationship

Ordinary people making a difference

Sustainable options

Realizing Ordinary