Remembering Two Great Human Beings - Peace Out:

On April 25, 2009 I attended a Memorial for two people who worked tirelessly to do their part to bring peace to this world. It was an absolute privilege to be there to share in remembering these two peoples lives -- Doreen and Don Plowman.

To most, and especially the young people of today, these names would not mean anything. However, to those they helped in their lifetime, and that were present at the Memorial, it was clear they spent a great deal of their lives caring about the rest of the world and the people who inhabit it. They both strongly believed that if you were not part of the solution, then you were part of the problem.

Doreen was a mother, grandmother, accountant, fund raiser, giver of hope, orator, caregiver of the community

Don was a father, grandfather, carpenter, a collector of junk, a teacher/instructor, an inventor, a poet, and a storyteller

Here is what the YWCA-Winnipeg wrote of Doreen in 1998, when she was to receive a peace medal.

"Doreen began her work for peace and social justice when still a child by canvassing door-to-door asking for money to help the plight of children affected by the Spanish civil war. She helped organize the first Winnipeg Walk for Peace and joined tens of thousands in peace walks calling for the banning of nuclear weapons, was a founding member of the Winnipeg Coordinating Committee for Disarmament, was a key person in the Telebridge program, linking Winnipeg with her sister citizens in Lvov Ukraine, formed the Winnipeg Economic Conversion Committee in 1991. In 1997, she and her husband Don joined with others to form Bridge Builders, to build bridges and foster dialogue between the aboriginal and non-aboriginal communities of Winnipeg."

"You can't have peace if people are repressed or are denied their dignity. It's social
justice, and if you can't have that, you can't have peace. You have to do things; you
have to be involved." -- Doreen Plowman

Don Plowman wrote many poems/odes. Here are just two of the many:

To Those Who Will Not See -- by Don Plowman (aka Isle B. Darned)

It is hard to imagine the heartlessness of those who favour war,
Millions of lives are lost because there are many points to score.

Wasted too are the opportunities that our days on earth provide
When behind a veil of blind righteousness our empty souls we hide.

Empty because we have let ourselves get caught in a worthless net of lies,
For its brazenness and cruelty, this crude hoax all common sense defies.

Our deliberate blindness to some simple facts must make some people wonder,
If there's more to this business we call war than just some tragic blunder.

It's for God and country that wars are fought, and that we can applaud,
Then logic says the pious folk and statesmen should stain the battle sod.

Perhaps with a taste of a battle scene their enthusiasm would decline,
If only those who stood to gain laid their lives on the battle line.

It is sad to think of the wasted time that is spent on covering lies,
While in our empty and pompous lives we are deaf to the children's cries.

Saddest of all of this deafness and blindness to things that ought to be,
Is the callousness of righteous folk who will neither hear nor see.



Saying Grace -- by Don Plowman (aka Isle B. Darned)

A pious man in Africa went walking one fine day
and soon spied a hungry tiger not twenty feet away.

He closed his eyes and said a prayer upon a bended knee
convinced that he despite his prayer, a tiger's meal would be.

Moments passed, it seemed a day, he waited for his fate,
and wondered what sad circumstance produced this sorry state.

He tired soon of bending there just waiting for the bite
he raised his head and before him he saw the strangest sight.

The tiger knelt upon the ground, its savage eyes were closed
and was murmuring to itself, as though it sat and dozed.

The tiger sensed the puzzlement upon the man's sad face
and said "I don't know what you're doing, but I was saying grace".


Rest in peace...job very well done!