A World Person With Guts And Courage

Sunday, July 9, 2006 at 10:17PM
Michael Chacko Daniels

By Michael Chacko Daniels
Editor & Publisher, New River Free Press International

Global Citizen is one way to describe Mona Lee.

Another is — “A world person,” as Professor Edathil Prabhakar Menon does.

“She is a rare person who had the guts and courage to travel around India on a tandem bicycle, along with her husband, for several months,” explains Prof. Menon, the March 2005 Career Visions interviewee who nominated Ms Lee for this month’s interview.

“That was the best way for them to understand the real India.

“Also she is a person who looks at the future of humanity from a long-term perspective. A world person.”

Formerly a vocational rehabilitation counselor for the State of Washington, the reason this retiree, a long-time peace and justice activist, set out on a tandem bicycle with husband Dick Burkhart to circumnavigate the globe was to promote global democracy.

So far, they have biked across the U. S., Canada, Europe, India, and South America segments.

Ms Lee lives with her husband in Seattle’s Rainier Valley, where they participate actively in neighborhood, transit, and bicycle issues, and in the Rainier Valley Unitarian Universalist congregation.

Mr. Menon, who made a monumental, three-year, 10,000-mile journey around the world for peace, believes that, “The more there are such people in the world, the future will turn out better.”

Q__________________________Q

New River Free Press International

Tell us about yourself.

What makes you who you are?
Q__________________________Q

ML I was not blessed with the kind of upbringing that breeds self-confidence. My mother was very punitive toward me. However, I was raised with very high moral standards. My father had a quote pasted to the dashboard of his car: "Be kind. For everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." I have always tried to be kind. I love life, the earth, and its people.

Somewhere along the way I discovered the importance of setting goals for myself. I have very high standards and work long and hard to achieve my goals. I get a lot of joy out of achieving goals. Unfortunately, I believe I have become a workaholic, however. Case in point, it is Sunday night at 10:19 PM. I have been working all day on community projects and just remembered that I promised to have this questionnaire done by tomorrow, so here I am doing it now.

I have been retired for three years from my day job as a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor, yet I am busier than I was when I worked full time. Following are a few of my current projects:

•Writing monthly feature articles and columns for a local Seattle newspaper called the South District Journal.

•Chairing my neighborhood stewardship association which strives to revitalize our low income neighborhood without the unwanted "gentrification." We also strive to create a pedestrian- and transit-oriented neighborhood and to get people out of their cars.

•Helping to plan services and celebrations for my church, the Rainier Valley Unitarian Universalist Congregation.

•Promoting the Coalition for a World Parliament and Global Democracy. My husband, Dick Burkhart, and I have a goal of circumnavigating the globe by tandem bicycle in segments to promote global democracy. So far, we have biked in the US, Canada, Europe, India, and South America.

•Promoting my books.

•And more.

Q__________________________Q

New River Free Press International

What was your vision of society

that brought you to the work you do?
Q__________________________Q


ML We live in a very interconnected universe. We must all be stewards not only of our local neighborhoods but of our planet and the universe.

To be adequate stewards we have to live moderately and not use more than necessary of the planet's resources. It is important for each person not to acquire too many things or too much money.

Human greed for money and things has lead to many unfortunate consequences. For one example, there are far too many automobiles. Cars are choking, uglifying, and destroying the planet. That's why I am a strong proponent of New Urbanism and transit-oriented development. I don't drive a car myself. I use my bicycle and public transit.


Q__________________________Q

New River Free Press International

What do you think we

should remember as we remake

the world through the work we do?
Q__________________________Q

ML Another important part of my vision of society is that we are still on a lower rung of the evolutionary process as symptomized by the fact that we still engage in the barbaric practice of warfare. If we don't soon evolve to the next higher rung wherein war shall be eliminated, the species will perish.

The most important thing to remember is that every child is as important as my own.


Q__________________________Q

New River Free Press International

Has your vision changed

as you have participated

in the remaking of the world?
Q__________________________Q

ML My belief in the vision described above has grown deeper and stronger each year. What has changed lately is the weakening of my belief that the human species will actually make that next evolutionary leap before we perish. I constantly try to nurture hope, but when I hear daily on the news of the criminal stupidity of my own government, my faith tends to falter. Still, that is all the more reason to keep nurturing hope, to keep working toward that evolutionary leap in every way that we can.

For instance, I prepared flyers to hand out at yesterday’s peace march in Seattle. The flyers were copies of the World Unity Day — For World Citizenship and Democratic Global Governance Manifesto declaring March 21 World Unity Day. The people who held my flyers in their hands could glimpse a vision of a very different world. Every day we have to take small steps, make little gestures toward a more highly evolved human consciousness.


Q__________________________Q

New River Free Press International

What challenges do you

perceive in achieving your

vision of society?
Q__________________________Q

ML The reality of society is a very long way from my vision. The challenges are obvious. If I'm hoping for the species to evolve to a higher evolutionary plane, I have to let go of any need I have to control the process. Evolution happens by accidental mutations and unpredictable occurrences. I cannot control it.

The best I can hope for is that something will happen to wake people up. I don't know what that will be. But, in the meantime, I have to work hard on a day-to-day basis so that when that time comes, we will be ready with the right information, the right vision to help the species make that evolutionary leap.

So, I just keep promoting global democracy, spreading the word. I just keep helping to build a pedestrian friendly town center around the light rail station that is, as we speak, being built in my neighborhood. Both locally and globally, I stay ready for the right moment when the human species will make that leap toward a higher state of evolution.


Q__________________________Q

New River Free Press International

What needs to be done

to overcome these challenges?
Q__________________________Q

ML Besides doing what I am doing on a day-to-day basis locally and globally, I just need to wait for that right moment for the human species to take the leap. I don't necessarily expect it to happen in my lifetime, but perhaps it will. Perhaps something will happen in my lifetime that at least shows a greater trend toward the leap.


Q__________________________Q

New River Free Press International

What pointers would you

give young people of the 9/11

generation as they work in

public service assignments?
Q__________________________Q

ML I think I would like to refer them to my two favorite quotes [See A Mona Lee Databank above].

Anonymous quote: "Minds are like parachutes. They only function when open."

Keep an open and inquiring mind. In Desiderata, another one of my favorites, it says to listen to others. "Even the dull and the ignorant, they too have their story." As soon as you think you have the whole truth and expect others to start following you, you have taken the wrong path. Each of us has only a piece of the truth.

Gandhi quote: "The seeker after truth must become humbler than dust . . . "

By catering to your ego, trying to raise yourself above others you will never achieve anything worthy in life. Whenever you feel defensive, duck under that feeling. If someone criticizes you, listen well. Don't take it to heart necessarily. Always believe in your own infinite worth. But don't argue with the one who criticizes you. Find some way to gracefully agree with them. That will make it possible for you to move forward with that person.


Q__________________________Q

New River Free Press International

What personal lessons have

you learned from the effect of war

on children in Africa and Asia?
Q__________________________Q

ML I have not been close to those children so I'm sure I have not learned all I could learn if I had the opportunity to meet them. One thing I have learned from drawings I have seen of children of Zimbabwe and from children who have come here to Seattle from the Sudan is about the power and resiliency of the human spirit.

With such power and resiliency there must be something greater to the human species than meets the eye.

This feeds my hope that the human species will one day take the necessary evolutionary leap to a higher plane of existence, to a healthy, unified planet without the scourge of war.


Q__________________________Q

New River Free Press International

What personal lessons have

you learned from the

post-Hurricane Katrina

tragedies in New Orleans?
Q__________________________Q

ML Again, more evidence of the resiliency and also the forgiving grace of the human spirit. How amazing that so many good souls could forgive the crass insensibility of those in power and just move steadfastly forward, having been forced into a bleaker future than they had ever known before.


Q__________________________Q

New River Free Press International

What personal and public lessons

have you learned from the

devastation caused by the

Asian Tsunami and the

South Asian Earthquake?
Q__________________________Q

ML I was in Brazil at the time of the Tsunami, one year after I had been traveling in India. It was beyond my power to imagine what was happening in the places where the Tsunami struck. I am among the privileged who have never been hit directly by such forces of nature. I only feel the ripples. But even the ripples are strong enough to sound warning bells.

It makes my soul scream with anger that our leaders are not listening to these sounds from the effects of climate change. What I have learned is not to have faith in those who are in power. Even if they see the handwriting on the wall, they may ignore it. We have to stay active politically.

We have to insist upon more responsive leaders who care about the fate of our planet and its people.

Humbler than Dust
A Retired Couple Visits the Real India by Tandem Bicycle
By Mona Lee

Seaboard Press, 2005
James A Rock & Co.

Non-Fiction•Travel•Cycling

“Dick Burkhart and Mona Lee are a retired couple trying to circumnavigate the globe by tandem bicycle and popularize the concept of a global parliament directly elected by the people of the world. Humbler than Dust is the true story of their two-month travel adventure in India as well as their organizing escapades of the 2005 World Social Forum in Bombay. Throughout the journey they meet a host of wonderful characters who help them in many ways. They even get some help from Ganesh, the popular elephant-faced god whose spirit permeates the atmosphere of India.”

—From the book’s back cover

Alien Child
By Mona Lee

Open Hand Publishing Inc., 1999
Seattle, Washington

Science Fiction • Fantasy • World Peace • Northwest

“Alien Child is a challenging, imaginative inquiry into earth ethics, as perceived by a sympathetic alien visitor from a more evolved part of the galaxy. The story, clear and captivating, is told as a cautionary tale from the Vietnam War era. Along the way, many practices that are part of the mainstream war culture of America are subjected to scrutiny. The book is a good read . . . a useful audit of planet earth on the eve of the millennium.”

— Richard Falk
Professor of International Law
Princeton University
— From the book’s back cover.

The Earth Charter Initiative
www.earthcharter.org

“The Earth Charter . . . is a declaration of fundamental principles for building a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society for the 21st century. Created by the largest global consultation process ever associated with an international declaration, endorsed by thousands of organizations representing millions of individuals, the Earth Charter seeks to inspire in all peoples a sense of global interdependence and shared responsibility for the well-being of the human family and the larger living world. The Earth Charter is an expression of hope and a call to help create a global partnership at a critical juncture in history. . . .”

One World Trust
www.oneworldtrust.org

“Unequal and inadequate global rules and structures are causing poverty and injustice throughout the world. As a powerful nation that has a leading role in the formation of these global rules and the daily business of global organisations, Britain has the ability to improve the quality and dignity of life of people everywhere.

"The root causes of poverty and inequality need to be addressed at both the grassroots and decision-making levels. The Trust's work on reforming global organisations complements the work of other groups focusing on addressing the sources of injustice at the grassroots level."

“The One World Trust promotes education and research into the changes required within global organisations in order to achieve the eradication of poverty, injustice and war. It conducts research on practical ways to make global organisations more responsive to the people they affect, and on how the rule of law can be applied equally to all. It educates political leaders and opinion-formers about the findings of its research.

“Its guiding vision is a world where all peoples live in peace and security and have equal access to opportunity and participation. . . .”

Foreign Policy In Focus
www.fpif.org

“Foreign Policy In Focus (FPIF) is a think tank for research, analysis, and action that brings together scholars, advocates, and activists who strive to make the United States a more responsible global partner. The International Relations Center (IRC) in Silver City, New Mexico and the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) in Washington, DC have jointly managed FPIF since 1996.

“FPIF provides timely analysis of U.S. foreign policy and international affairs and recommends policy alternatives. We believe U.S. security and world stability are best advanced through a commitment to peace, justice and environmental protection as well as economic, political, and social rights. We advocate that diplomatic solutions, global cooperation, and grassroots participation guide foreign policy. . . .”

Wikipedia
www.en.wikipedia.org

“Begun in 2001, Wikipedia has rapidly grown into the largest reference website on the Internet. The content of Wikipedia is free, written collaboratively by people from all around the world. This website is a wiki, which means that anyone with access to an Internet-connected computer can edit, correct, or improve information throughout the encyclopedia, simply by clicking the edit this page link (with a few minor exceptions, such as protected articles and the main page).

“Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation, which has created an entire family of wiki projects. On Wikipedia, and its sister projects, you are welcome to be bold and edit articles yourself, contributing knowledge as you see fit in a collaborative way. . . .”

Walkable Communities, Inc.
www.walkable.org

“Walkable Communities was established in the state of Florida in 1996. It was organized for the express purposes of helping whole communities, whether they are large cities or small towns, or parts of communities, i.e. neighborhoods, business districts, parks, school districts, subdivisions, specific roadway corridors, etc., become more walkable and pedestrian friendly.”

“It is the organization's premise that:

“Walkability is the cornerstone and key to an urban area's efficient ground transportation. Every trip begins and ends with walking. Walking remains the cheapest form of transport for all people, and the construction of a walkable community provides the most affordable transportation system any community can plan, design, construct and maintain. Walkable communities put urban environments back on a scale for sustainability of resources (both natural and economic) and lead to more social interaction, physical fitness and diminished crime and other social problems. Walkable communities are more liveable communities and lead to whole, happy, healthy lives for the people who live in them. . . .”

The Great Story
www.thegreatstory.org

“THE GREAT STORY is a way of telling the history of everyone and everything that honors and embraces all religious traditions and creation stories. It is the sacred narrative of an evolving Universe of emergent complexity and breathtaking creativity and cooperation — a story that offers each of us the opportunity to find meaning and purpose in our lives and our time in history. . . .”

People & the Planet
www.peopleandplanet.net

“peopleandplanet.net provides a global review and internet gateway into the issues of population, poverty, health, consumption and the environment. It is published by Planet 21, an independent non-profit company and a registered British charity recognised by the United Nations.

“Launched in September 2000, this website replaced People & the Planet, the acclaimed quarterly international magazine. Planet 21 will continue to publish Special Reports on topical themes from time to time. Planet 21 also produces videos and assists in the publication of occasional books. . . .”

Common Dreams
www.commondreams.org

Breaking News and Views for the Progressive Community.

World Unity Days
www.worldunitydays.net

“We live in one world,

“We all belong to the human species,

“We have made enormous historical progress to find ways to live together in peace, notably with the development of democracy and human rights, but there is still so much to achieve.

“We have learned that all life flows together and that natural resources are a precious asset that we must protect on behalf of all.

“We have now reached the point where global management of global affairs is the only thing that makes rational sense.

“Thus we, a group of individuals and organizations that has been actively working for world democracy for many years now, are inviting you to join us in recognizing and celebrating World Unity Days for World Citizenship and Global Governance on the two Equinox days of each year, the next one being September 23 of 2006, followed by March 21 and September 23 of 2007. . . .”

Women’s International League for
Peace and Freedom
www.wilpf.org

“The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom was founded in 1915 during World War I, with Jane Addams as its first president. WILPF works to achieve through peaceful means world disarmament, full rights for women, racial and economic justice, an end to all forms of violence, and to establish those political, social, and psychological conditions which can assure peace, freedom, and justice for all.

“WILPF works to create an environment of political, economic, social and psychological freedom for all members of the human community, so that true peace can be enjoyed by all. . . .”

World Federalist Movement
www.wfm.org

"The World Federalist Movement is an international citizen's movement working for justice, peace, and sustainable prosperity. We call for an end to the rule of force, through a world governed by law, based on strengthened and democratized world institutions. World federalists support the creation of democratic global structures accountable to the citizens of the world and call for the division of international authority among separate agencies. . . .”

Article originally appeared on New River Free Press International: Visions of Survival & Improvement by People Remaking Our Small Planet (https://indiawritingstation.com/).