Peace: A Lifetime Journey
Dear friends,
It was 1848. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott attended the first Women’s Rights Convention in the U.S., held at Seneca Falls, New York. Its “Declaration of Sentiments”, demanding that the rights of women as individuals be acknowledged and respected by society, launched the movement of women to be included in the constitution. Stanton, Mott and others had been excluded from the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London in 1840 because of their sex, and began the campaign to secure the rights of women here at home.
The Declaration was signed by sixty-eight women and thirty-two men.
When suffrage finally became a reality in 1920, seventy-two years after this first organized demand in 1848, only one signer of the Seneca Falls Declaration had lived long enough to cast her first ballot. Many, including Jeannette Rankin planted seeds and nurtured the work along the way. And it is likely that many grew discouraged as the years passed without sight of their goal. But collectively, each seed, each word, each action moved us forward. And the journey continues. Remember that peace is a lifetime journey, a path we must travel together. What is your unique part? Check out the Mutual of Omaha listing under Action Opportunities for an opportunity to tell your story.
To all the lifetimes, past, present and future that step up to the moment…Betsy
