Visiting Paul Kellett, a small “zones of peace” building mission

I barely know from day-to-day where our mission to build small “zones of peace” will take me/us next. Where it took Sue and I yesterday was a mostly gentle adventure worth sharing. “I want you to go see Paul Kellett with me one day this week,” Sue had suggested earlier. We made our plan, finally getting it together to show up there on Friday afternoon. First off, I was treated to a beautiful, hour long drive through the Catoctin Mountains into Pennsylvania, east of Frederick (the New Horizons' Habitat For Healing is west of Frederick on the way to Charles Town, WV). Upon arrival at Paul’s, we were greeted with our next delight, a tour of Paul and Lizzie’s amazing home and land. The property overlooks a gorgeous valley and mountainside view. The surrounding main house and buildings have either been remodeled or built mostly by hand by Paul and his helpers. The materials accumulated by him come from his many regular visits to “The Church of Holy Junk.” The whole of what they have created is awesome. Then, it was time for conversation. If you have noted anything much yet about how we foster our small “zones of peace” mission, you have no doubt realized that community (community meaning a group of any size, more than the two) conversation is a huge part of how we proceed. Give Sue and I any opportunity at all for conversations on peace-building and how we can achieve that end and we are ready to go. From church or synagogue board members to the local police chief or peace activists, from coffee shops to meeting podiums, we are, metaphorically, always dressed and eager for the next conversation. We simply love it! And we seem able, even adept, at encouraging the dialogue with others who are of like-mind; making peace a reality, thinking globally, acting locally. With Paul, we had an invigorating mental and verbal workout. And, I learned a few tips about how I can polish up my word skills to enhance the cause, helping conversation move from “snags to synergy.” (“Snags to Synergy” is topic number three in our “Coffee House Conversations Series” which I will be telling you about in future postings.) The grand finale of the day was donations galore from Paul to our Habitat For Healing Remodeling Project. We came away with Sue’s car trunk and back seat filled to capacity and a promise of being able to make a return trip for more after we update our next “Wish List.” Even a truckload of stuff if we want. What a day! Thank you so much Paul Kellett!