I'm reading an Advance Reader's Edition of The Planet Walker by John Francis right now. In 1971, John Francis took a vow of silence which lasted 17 years. As he explains in his book, the main impetus for his silence was to avoid arguing about his decision several months earlier to no longer use any form of motorized transportation.
Along the lines of there is no such thing as coincidence, today Rachel is participating in The Action in Africa Vow of Silence Day. This means that she can't speak all day long.
Woohoo!
Now, anyone who knows Rachel knows that, like her mother, she has a contrary streak. Actually, as her mother, I think I can safely say that her contrary streak is worse than mine (although I might be just a bit biased).
Rachel loves to argue. She is hardwired to argue even when she can't speak. This morning, she was unhappy about the fact that it was snowing and when I told her to get over it, she tried to argue with me silently using a dry erase board.
As I cut her off, the parallel between the result of her vow of silence and John Francis' vow of silence, the inability to argue, smacked me upside the head.
Of course, when I pointed it out to her, she wanted to argue with me about it.
I also told her that I thought it would be a fantastic idea if she did the Vow of Silence Day once a week. I limited it to once a week in the spirit of not being greedy.
She didn't like that idea either.
In the alternative, 17 years would be kinda cool, too . . .
Photo Credit
Along the lines of there is no such thing as coincidence, today Rachel is participating in The Action in Africa Vow of Silence Day. This means that she can't speak all day long.
Woohoo!
Now, anyone who knows Rachel knows that, like her mother, she has a contrary streak. Actually, as her mother, I think I can safely say that her contrary streak is worse than mine (although I might be just a bit biased).
Rachel loves to argue. She is hardwired to argue even when she can't speak. This morning, she was unhappy about the fact that it was snowing and when I told her to get over it, she tried to argue with me silently using a dry erase board.
As I cut her off, the parallel between the result of her vow of silence and John Francis' vow of silence, the inability to argue, smacked me upside the head.
Of course, when I pointed it out to her, she wanted to argue with me about it.
I also told her that I thought it would be a fantastic idea if she did the Vow of Silence Day once a week. I limited it to once a week in the spirit of not being greedy.
She didn't like that idea either.
In the alternative, 17 years would be kinda cool, too . . .
Photo Credit
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