<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"><head><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml><o:OfficeDocumentSettings><o:AllowPNG/><o:PixelsPerInch>96</o:PixelsPerInch></o:OfficeDocumentSettings></xml><![endif]--></head><body>
Thanks Cheryl!! I can’t wait until the meeting!! Wish I had some art news I could share but right now I’m just practicing my painting skills! One of my nieces gave me a whole bunch of art supplies to get creative with this year for a Christmas.<div><br></div><div>Owen<br><br><br><p class="yiv2007800818MsoNormal" style="word-break: break-word; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 128%;">Owen McCafferty, </p><p class="yiv2007800818MsoNormal" style="word-break: break-word; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 128%;">Social Media Chair</p><p class="yiv2007800818MsoNormal" style="word-break: break-word; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 128%;">NFBOH-Cleveland</p><p class="yiv2007800818MsoNormal" style="word-break: break-word; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 128%;"> P: <a dir="ltr" href="tel:(440)%20462-9755" x-apple-data-detectors="true" x-apple-data-detectors-type="telephone" x-apple-data-detectors-result="0" style="word-break: break-word; color: rgb(149, 79, 114); text-decoration: underline;">(440) 462-9755</a></p><p class="yiv2007800818MsoNormal" style="word-break: break-word; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 128%;">C: <a dir="ltr" href="tel:440%20724-1530" x-apple-data-detectors="true" x-apple-data-detectors-type="telephone" x-apple-data-detectors-result="1">440 724-1530</a></p><p class="yiv2007800818MsoNormal" style="word-break: break-word; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 128%;">A;PO Box 141077</p><p class="yiv2007800818MsoNormal" style="word-break: break-word; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 128%;">Cleveland, Ohio 44114</p><p class="yiv2007800818MsoNormal" style="word-break: break-word; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 128%;">E: ojmccaf1963@yahoo.com</p><p class="yiv2007800818MsoNormal" style="word-break: break-word; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.301961); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 128%;">A: ojmccaf63@gmail.com</p><br><p class="yahoo-quoted-begin" style="font-size: 15px; color: #715FFA; padding-top: 15px; margin-top: 0">On Thursday, January 11, 2018, 3:39 PM, Cheryl Fields via NFBOH-Cleveland <nfboh-cleveland@nfbnet.org> wrote:</p><blockquote class="iosymail"><div dir="ltr">Greetings to the Beloved Community,<br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">On Monday, January 15th, , the nation and the world will celebrate the<br></div><div dir="ltr">life and legacy of Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr.<br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">Some of us will attend community celebrations and some of us will<br></div><div dir="ltr">offer our time, talent and treasure to service.<br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">On January 15th,however you decide to commemorate the late Dr. King,<br></div><div dir="ltr">It's important to remember why! The civil rights movement is alive and<br></div><div dir="ltr">well within the federation because of the dedication, determination<br></div><div dir="ltr">and compassion men like Dr. Kenneth Jernigan and Dr. Martin Luther<br></div><div dir="ltr">King, Jr. demonstrated during their lifetimes for the "Beloved<br></div><div dir="ltr">Community."<br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">Below I have pasted information about the King philosophy. Take time<br></div><div dir="ltr">to compare the National Federation of the Blind philosophy with the<br></div><div dir="ltr">one below. Thank you and believe that, We Shall Overcome Someday!<br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">Yours In Service,<br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">Cheryl E. Fields Secretary<br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"> THE BELOVED COMMUNITY<br></div><div dir="ltr">“The Beloved Community” is a term that was first coined in the early<br></div><div dir="ltr">days of the 20th Century by the philosopher-theologian Josiah Royce,<br></div><div dir="ltr">who founded the Fellowship of Reconciliation. However, it was Dr.<br></div><div dir="ltr">Martin Luther King, Jr., also a member of the Fellowship of<br></div><div dir="ltr">Reconciliation, who popularized the term and invested it with a deeper<br></div><div dir="ltr">meaning which has captured the imagination of people of goodwill all<br></div><div dir="ltr">over the world.<br></div><div dir="ltr">For Dr. King, The Beloved Community was not a lofty utopian goal to be<br></div><div dir="ltr">confused with the rapturous image of the Peaceable Kingdom, in which<br></div><div dir="ltr">lions and lambs coexist in idyllic harmony. Rather, The Beloved<br></div><div dir="ltr">Community was for him a realistic, achievable goal that could be<br></div><div dir="ltr">attained by a critical mass of people committed to and trained in the<br></div><div dir="ltr">philosophy and methods of nonviolence.<br></div><div dir="ltr">Dr. King’s Beloved Community is a global vision, in which all people<br></div><div dir="ltr">can share in the wealth of the earth. In the Beloved Community,<br></div><div dir="ltr">poverty, hunger and homelessness will not be tolerated because<br></div><div dir="ltr">international standards of human decency will not allow it. Racism and<br></div><div dir="ltr">all forms of discrimination, bigotry and prejudice will be replaced by<br></div><div dir="ltr">an all-inclusive spirit of sisterhood and brotherhood. In the Beloved<br></div><div dir="ltr">Community, international disputes will be resolved by peaceful<br></div><div dir="ltr">conflict-resolution and reconciliation of adversaries, instead of<br></div><div dir="ltr">military power. Love and trust will triumph over fear and hatred.<br></div><div dir="ltr">Peace with justice will prevail over war and military conflict.<br></div><div dir="ltr">Dr. King’s Beloved Community was not devoid of interpersonal, group or<br></div><div dir="ltr">international conflict. Instead he recognized that conflict was an<br></div><div dir="ltr">inevitable part of human experience. But he believed that conflicts<br></div><div dir="ltr">could be resolved peacefully and adversaries could be reconciled<br></div><div dir="ltr">through a mutual, determined commitment to nonviolence. No conflict,<br></div><div dir="ltr">he believed, need erupt in violence. And all conflicts in The Beloved<br></div><div dir="ltr">Community should end with reconciliation of adversaries cooperating<br></div><div dir="ltr">together in a spirit of friendship and goodwill.<br></div><div dir="ltr">As early as 1956, Dr. King spoke of The Beloved Community as the end<br></div><div dir="ltr">goal of nonviolent boycotts. As he said in a speech at a victory rally<br></div><div dir="ltr">following the announcement of a favorable U.S. Supreme Court Decision<br></div><div dir="ltr">desegregating the seats on Montgomery’s busses, “the end is<br></div><div dir="ltr">reconciliation; the end is redemption; the end is the creation of the<br></div><div dir="ltr">Beloved Community. It is this type of spirit and this type of love<br></div><div dir="ltr">that can transform opponents into friends. It is this type of<br></div><div dir="ltr">understanding goodwill that will transform the deep gloom of the old<br></div><div dir="ltr">age into the exuberant gladness of the new age. It is this love which<br></div><div dir="ltr">will bring about miracles in the hearts of men.”<br></div><div dir="ltr">An ardent student of the teachings of Mohandas K. Gandhi, Dr. King was<br></div><div dir="ltr">much impressed with the Mahatma’s befriending of his adversaries, most<br></div><div dir="ltr">of whom professed profound admiration for Gandhi’s courage and<br></div><div dir="ltr">intellect. Dr. King believed that the age-old tradition of hating<br></div><div dir="ltr">one’s opponents was not only immoral, but bad strategy which<br></div><div dir="ltr">perpetuated the cycle of revenge and retaliation. Only nonviolence, he<br></div><div dir="ltr">believed, had the power to break the cycle of retributive violence and<br></div><div dir="ltr">create lasting peace through reconciliation.<br></div><div dir="ltr">In a 1957 speech, Birth of A New Nation, Dr. King said, “The aftermath<br></div><div dir="ltr">of nonviolence is the creation of the beloved community. The aftermath<br></div><div dir="ltr">of nonviolence is redemption. The aftermath of nonviolence is<br></div><div dir="ltr">reconciliation. The aftermath of violence is emptiness and<br></div><div dir="ltr">bitterness.” A year later, in his first book Stride Toward Freedom,<br></div><div dir="ltr">Dr. King reiterated the importance of nonviolence in attaining The<br></div><div dir="ltr">Beloved Community. In other words, our ultimate goal is integration,<br></div><div dir="ltr">which is genuine inter-group and inter-personal living. Only through<br></div><div dir="ltr">nonviolence can this goal be attained, for the aftermath of<br></div><div dir="ltr">nonviolence is reconciliation and the creation of the Beloved<br></div><div dir="ltr">Community.<br></div><div dir="ltr">In his 1959 Sermon on Gandhi, Dr. King elaborated on the after-effects<br></div><div dir="ltr">of choosing nonviolence over violence: “The aftermath of nonviolence<br></div><div dir="ltr">is the creation of the beloved community, so that when the battle’s<br></div><div dir="ltr">over, a new relationship comes into being between the oppressed and<br></div><div dir="ltr">the oppressor.” In the same sermon, he contrasted violent versus<br></div><div dir="ltr">nonviolent resistance to oppression. “The way of acquiescence leads to<br></div><div dir="ltr">moral and spiritual suicide. The way of violence leads to bitterness<br></div><div dir="ltr">in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers. But, the way of<br></div><div dir="ltr">non-violence leads to redemption and the creation of the beloved<br></div><div dir="ltr">community.”<br></div><div dir="ltr">The core value of the quest for Dr. King’s Beloved Community was agape<br></div><div dir="ltr">love. Dr. King distinguished between three kinds of love: eros, “a<br></div><div dir="ltr">sort of aesthetic or romantic love”; philia, “affection between<br></div><div dir="ltr">friends” and agape, which he described as “understanding, redeeming<br></div><div dir="ltr">goodwill for all,” an “overflowing love which is purely spontaneous,<br></div><div dir="ltr">unmotivated, groundless and creative”…”the love of God operating in<br></div><div dir="ltr">the human heart.” He said that “Agape does not begin by discriminating<br></div><div dir="ltr">between worthy and unworthy people…It begins by loving others for<br></div><div dir="ltr">their sakes” and “makes no distinction between a friend and enemy; it<br></div><div dir="ltr">is directed toward both…Agape is love seeking to preserve and create<br></div><div dir="ltr">community.”<br></div><div dir="ltr">In his 1963 sermon, Loving Your Enemies, published in his book,<br></div><div dir="ltr">Strength to Love, Dr. King addressed the role of unconditional love in<br></div><div dir="ltr">struggling for the beloved Community. ‘With every ounce of our energy<br></div><div dir="ltr">we must continue to rid this nation of the incubus of segregation. But<br></div><div dir="ltr">we shall not in the process relinquish our privilege and our<br></div><div dir="ltr">obligation to love. While abhorring segregation, we shall love the<br></div><div dir="ltr">segregationist. This is the only way to create the beloved community.”<br></div><div dir="ltr">One expression of agape love in Dr. King’s Beloved Community is<br></div><div dir="ltr">justice, not for any one oppressed group, but for all people. As Dr.<br></div><div dir="ltr">King often said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice<br></div><div dir="ltr">everywhere.” He felt that justice could not be parceled out to<br></div><div dir="ltr">individuals or groups, but was the birthright of every human being in<br></div><div dir="ltr">the Beloved Community. I have fought too long hard against segregated<br></div><div dir="ltr">public accommodations to end up segregating my moral concerns,” he<br></div><div dir="ltr">said. “Justice is indivisible.”<br></div><div dir="ltr">In a July 13, 1966 article in Christian Century Magazine, Dr. King<br></div><div dir="ltr">affirmed the ultimate goal inherent in the quest for the Beloved<br></div><div dir="ltr">Community: “I do not think of political power as an end. Neither do I<br></div><div dir="ltr">think of economic power as an end. They are ingredients in the<br></div><div dir="ltr">objective that we seek in life. And I think that end of that objective<br></div><div dir="ltr">is a truly brotherly society, the creation of the beloved community”<br></div><div dir="ltr">In keeping with Dr. King’s teachings, The King Center embraces the<br></div><div dir="ltr">conviction that the Beloved Community can be achieved through an<br></div><div dir="ltr">unshakable commitment to nonviolence. We urge you to study Dr. King’s<br></div><div dir="ltr">six principles and six steps of nonviolence, and make them a way life<br></div><div dir="ltr">in your personal relationships, as well as a method for resolving<br></div><div dir="ltr">social, economic and political conflicts, reconciling adversaries and<br></div><div dir="ltr">advancing social change in your community, nation and world.<br></div><div dir="ltr"><a dir="ltr" href="tel:8089764384" x-apple-data-detectors="true" x-apple-data-detectors-type="telephone" x-apple-data-detectors-result="7">8089764384</a><br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">National Federation of the Blind of Cleveland<br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">nfbohio.org<br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">nfb.org<br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">I am filled with hope, energy, and love by participating in the<br></div><div dir="ltr">National Federation of the Blind because my expectations are raised,<br></div><div dir="ltr">my contributions make a difference to me and to others, and I can<br></div><div dir="ltr">celebrate the realization of my dreams with my Federation family.<br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">--<br></div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div dir="ltr">_______________________________________________<br></div><div dir="ltr">NFBOH-Cleveland mailing list<br></div><div dir="ltr"><a ymailto="mailto:NFBOH-Cleveland@nfbnet.org" href="mailto:NFBOH-Cleveland@nfbnet.org">NFBOH-Cleveland@nfbnet.org</a><br></div><div dir="ltr"><a href="http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfboh-cleveland_nfbnet.org" target="_blank">http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfboh-cleveland_nfbnet.org</a><br></div><div dir="ltr">To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for NFBOH-Cleveland:<br></div><div dir="ltr"><a href="http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfboh-cleveland_nfbnet.org/ojmccaf1963%40yahoo.com" target="_blank">http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfboh-cleveland_nfbnet.org/ojmccaf1963%40yahoo.com</a></div><blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></div>
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