Brilliant Star/Volume 17/Issue 6/Text

volume 17 number 6

Brilliant Star

january-february 1986

Sharaf Honor e Sultan Sovereignty ¢ Mulk Dominion e ’Ala’ Loftiness 142

About the cover

A fantastic view of the sphere of the Earth as photographed from the Apollo 17 spacecraft during the final lunar landing mission in NASA’s Apollo program. This outstanding photograph extends from the Mediterranean Sea area to the Antarctica south polar ice cap. Note the heavy cloud cover in the Southern Hemisphere Almost the entire coastline of the continent of Africa is clearly delineated. The Arabian Peninsula can be seen at the northeastern edge of Africa. The large island off the southeastern coast of Africa is Madagascar. The Asian mainland is on the horizon toward the northeast.

Photograph courtesy of NASA.

Dear Children,

Did you know that it wasn’t until the last twenty years (within the memory of your parents!) that we finally saw our world from outer space? And there it was: blue and round, like ajewel hanging in space. We saw our continents and oceans, and now we really know that the earth IS one country! There are no lines seen from space to say where one country ends and another begins. When you look at the

world as it appears on our cover, doesn't it remind you of a big, blue marble? It truly is the home of our human family, and it needs and deserves our love and care. Part of that care means that we must become strong and able makers of peace. The need for everyone in the world to think about peace and live our lives peacefully is such a big need that the United Nations has designated 1986 the International Year of Peace In Brilliant Star, we will be giving you stories and songs and activities all year long that we hope will make you think about peace and how Bahd‘s can stand out as excellent peacemakers.

fy

PE

This logo is the symbol that the United Nations chose for this special year. The dove is a symbol for peace all over the world. When you see this special dove on a page of Brilliant Star, you will know that what is on that page is something you can use to learn more about peace, and to teach others, too, about stopping fighting and working hard to take care of our earth and each other. Imagine what a wonderful world this will be when we learn that art!

Brilliant Star is a publication of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahais of the United States. It is published six times each year, in January, March, May, July, September and November. Copyright © 1986 National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States. World rights reserved.

Address manuscripts and other editorial contributions to Brilliant Star/Radpour, Suburban Office Park, 5010 Austin Rd., Hixson, Tn. 37343. Manuscripts should be typewritten and double-spaced throughout. Brilliant Star does not offer monetary compensation to its contributors. Return postage should be included if manuscript is to be returned. Single copy $2.50; 6 issues (one year) $12.00; 12 issues (two years) $23.00; foreign, surface mail, one year $15.00, two years $28.00; foreign, air mail, one year $25.00, two years $47.50. An index for the preceding year’s issues is available for $2.00. For subscriptions, change of address and adjustments write to Brilliant Star Subscriber Service, Suburban Office Park, 5010 Austin Rd., Hixson, Th. 37343. All other correspondence should be addressed to Brilliant Star/Richards, 4 Village Dr., Yardville, N.J. 08620. Printed in the U.S.A.

Brilliant Star is intended for children of all ages and

strives to:

e develop the child's awareness of the oneness of humanity

e increase the child's conscious awareness of his spiritual nature and the need for its development

develop the child’s reasoning power and stimulate his love for the order of the universe

e provide a standard by which the child may learn to relate to others with love and justice

® assist parents and teachers in developing all of the child's hidden talents and virtues

ISSN 0884-3635

Brilliant Star Editorial Board

Mary K. Radpour Managing Director

Deborah Bley Editor-in-Chief

Mimi McClellan Music Editor

Rita Leydon Art Director

Rita Leydon Production

Janet Richards Secretary

Keith Boehme Consultant [Page 1]

whats inside

=\ The Giant

Letters From 2 Our Friends If Suitcases 4

Could Talk by Betty D. Morris

10

Green Lady

by Shirley A. Nuottila

a song by Jean Marks

God Made 14 the World

a poem by

Diane Szatinski Walter Puzzle 15

do you know your

Bahai months? An Ayyémi-Ha 16 Honeybread Temple

a baking activity by Frances Worthington

Go, Margarita, Go! ZO a story by Pauline Ellis Cramer

Questions, 23 Questions and more Questions

Amatu'l-Baha’s response to a children’s class

Blow Across 24 the World

a song to sing By Heart 25 Voyage to 26

New Beginnings a space story by Janet Bixby

oy \ @ C

32 33

Book Nook

Parents’ Page [Page 2]

Letters from our friends

Five year old Abbey True Harris, from Hamilton Square, N.J., really likes sharks! This cut paper version is the second one she has sent to us. Are you terrified?!

Nasim Taghizadeh is seven years old, and lives in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. She sent us this love letter and drawing:

Rachel Watkins lives in Gouldsboro, Pennsylvania, and has been busy

drawing!

She is seven, and drew this horse and rider for us.

We have some names of children who would like penpals! Won't you please write to them? 1. David Furst, age 7, 8693 Darnel Road, Eden Prairie, MN 55344 2. Melissa Furst, age 4, 8693 Darnel Road, Eden Prairie, MN 55344 3. Stefany Tyler, age 9, 4024 Newell Rd. Apt. 15, Port Angeles, WA 98362 (likes collecting stickers and unicorns!) 4. Lisa Shahriari, age 10, 26652 Chester Dr., Laguna Hills, CA 92653 (likes skating, volleyball, stickers and reading) [Page 3]

The 3 to 5 year old Baha’i children’s class of Montreal, Canada, wrote and sent us a class picture. They told us:

Dear Brilliant Star,

This is a picture of our Baha’i class taken by one of our mothers who is a photographer. We like our class and we like learning and playing together. This year we are learning how to be like ’Abdu’l-Baha. We play a board game with questions about how to be like Abdu ’lBaha. If we give the right answer, we get to throw the dice and move ahead. Our teacher says that when we try to be like “Abdu’l-Baha, we grow inside.

We send our love to all the children who read Brilliant Star.

Anisa Cott is nine years old, and lives in Evansville, Indiana, with her eleven year old brother, Hushmand. She wrote us lots of her thoughts, including one that is just right for this issue:

“Baha'is believe in every Messenger sent to Earth from God. We all believe in God; the Christians and all the religions do too”

One of the best friends that Brilliant Star has is a grown-up! His name is Roger White, and he lives at the World Center in Haifa, Israel. Roger is a poet and a writer, and you may have seen some of his poems in Brilliant Star. One of Roger’s big jobs is to collect information and help put together The Bahai World. This is a thick book that is printed every couple of years that tells us the many exciting things that have happened in the Baha’i world since the last book came out! There is history, prayers in many languages, photographs of Baha'is all around the world, songs, and stories about people who have served the faith in special ways. Roger wanted us to know that a picture will appear in the next Bahai World that shows Brilliant Star along with many other Baha’i children’s magazines from around

Diane Arrambide is three and a half, and showed us how her family made Ayyam-i-Ha cards to share with their Mexican and American friends. Here is Diane's picture. ——>

the world. We are happy to get a “sneak

preview” and are proud to be in such wonder ful company with the other fine magazines

for Baha’i children. Thank you, Roger! 3 [Page 4]

LYDIA ZAMENHOF daughter of Professor Ludwik Lazarus Zamenhof, creator of Esperanto. A friend and colleague, Martha Root thought her brilliant and her translations of the Baha’i writings superb.

BAHIYYIH KHANUM, THE GREATEST HOLY LEAF daughter of Baha'u'llah

an York Be W aalier Z' Ppp ( icag® es

Illustrated by Winifred Barnum Newman [Page 5]

~ THE SHRINE OF THE BAB

the resting place of the Prophet-Herald of the Baha’i Faith, Haife.

“, Palestine, as it looked in 1925 when Martha Root first visited it,

if Suitcases Could take

A friend of mine once said to me “You know, Martha Root lived out of a suitcase for twenty years.” Of course, what she meant was that Miss Root spent more than twenty years of her life traveling throughout the world, telling people about the Baha’ Faith. But the way she said it made me wonder what Miss Root’s suitcase would say, if it could talk. The following is my guess as to some of the stories it might tell.

was a present to Miss Root

from her parents for her seventeenth birthday. I heard her tell a cousin of hers how glad she was to have a new suitcase to take to college with her. As she ran her hands gently over my leather sides, she told her cousin that I was handmade in Pittsburgh.

“Look,” she said as she undid my brass latches and pulled open the handles.

“A rose silk lining!”

Miss Root had kind blue eyes full of interest and curiosity. I had a feeling that traveling with her was going to be an adventure. I could not guess just how many adventures we would have together.

I had scarcely been there for amonth when it was time for her to leave for Oberlin College. She finally got me and the other bags packed. Her brothers, Clarence and Claude, carried us downstairs while Miss Root said goodbye to her mother. They both cried. Mrs. Root went back into the big house.

Mr. Root drove Miss Root in the family carriage to the train station. We were loaded onto the dairy wagon and followed the carriage.

When we arrived at the station, the boys put us out on the platform and hugged their sister.

“Claude and I are counting on you to make a name for the Roots in the educated circles,’ Clarence teased.

“That’s right, Mattie,’ laughed Claude, “and we're staying home to make sure Cambridge Springs is here when you get tired of the big, wide world and want to come home.”

Mr. Root came across the platform after hitching the carriage. He took his daughter’s hands and looked at her for a long time.

“Mattie, Mattie,’ he sighed. “I almost wish that you hadn't talked me out of sending you to the college close by.

I know you want your weekends for debating practice and for writing and for learning everything a college girl can possibly learn. But I shall miss your company so.”

“I know, Father,’ she replied, hugging him tightly. She added, quietly, “But I must learn everything I can.”

They stood, hand in hand, waiting for the train to arrive. They were both lost in thoughts of their own. Neither of them seemed to notice when a lady anda gentleman walked across

please turn the page [Page 6]the platform.

“Excuse me,’ said the gentleman, raising his hat slightly with a polite nod. “Are you folks going to be on the train bound for Chicago?”

“T am!” exclaimed Miss Root. “I’m going to college.”

“And who might you be, missy?” smiled the gentleman.

“Oh, excuse me,” said Miss Root with an embarrassed glance at her father. “I am Martha Louise Root, sir. This is my father, Mr. TT. Root.”

“How do you do,’ he replied, tipping his hat to Miss Root and shaking Mr. Root’s hand. “Iam Dr. Arthur Chapman and this is Mrs. Chapman.”

“What a charming traveling companion we shall have, Arthur, Mrs. Chapman said. “Will you be with us all the way to Chicago?”

“No, ma’am,”’ replied Miss Root. “I will only be traveling as far as Oberlin College in Ohio”

“So, you are off to college, are you? said Dr. Chapman. “It seems to me that a lovely young lady like yourself would do better staying at home and learning how to make a good apple pie to get some young man’s attention.”

Miss Root looked stunned. She seemed to be unable to imagine why anyone would suggest that she not learn as much as she was able to learn or to do as much with her life as her talents would allow. However, she quickly recovered her manners and used her father’s way of turning away unpleasantness with humor.

“Well, Dr. Chapman,” she smiled, “I'd have to say something to him once I got his attention, wouldn't I?”

Just then the train was arriving. The porter came

with luggage cart to load us into the baggage car. Miss Root and the Chapmans were climbing into their compartment as we were stacked and wheeled away.

I looked back. Mr. Root stood alone on the platform.

I spent the next twenty years in and out of the closet. Since I was her favorite bag, I traveled with her whenever she took a trip. But between trips, I was stored with the rest of the luggage in the closet. During her five years at college, her traveling was mainly trips home for holidays and summers. However, she did take a trip to Europe at the end of her first year at school.

When she began to work in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as a newspaper writer and editor, she would pack me and we would go to Cambridge Springs as often as possible. In 1902, when she was Automobile Editor of the Index of Pittsburgh Life, she went to Europe again. She sent stories and articles back to be printed in the Pittsburgh paper. There weren't many women traveling alone or writing for newspapers back then. None of them were writing about automobiles. But I was already learning that Miss Root was not like most women.

By 1909, I thought of myself as a well traveled piece of luggage. I had no idea what was in store.

About this time, Miss Root met a man named Roy Wilhelm. Although I didn’t know it because I was stored in the closet at the time, he told her something that would change her life—and

mine—forever. He told her about the Teachings of Baha’u'1lah and the promise of unity and peace for all

of humankind.

Like a reporter checking all the facts for a story, Miss Root set about to prove to herself that these teachings of Baha’u’llah were either true or false. She took me out of the closet and I could tell that she was onto an important story. Off we went to New York, then to Washington, D.C. and, finally to Chicago.

In Chicago, I sat propped open on the luggage stand with her clothes neatly folded and nestled into my silk lining. Miss Root had agreed with a Baha’ friend of hers on the phone earlier in the day to go to lunch. She was to be introduced to a Mr. Thornton Chase. As a reporter, she seemed to be interested in the fact that he was the first person in North America to be a Baha’.

It was late in the afternoon when she returned to the room. As soon as the door opened, I knew she was changed. Something in her face reminded me of the moment at dawn just before the sun comes into view, when it glows across the clouds and bathes the world in a soft light.

“Here?” exclaimed Miss Root, holding the letter from Roy Wilhelm in her hand. “’Abdu’l-Baha is coming to America? I can hardly believe it!”

It was March, 1912. As she covered my faded silk lining with her folded clothes— and her precious Baha’i books [Page 7]and pamphlets— Miss Root told her father that she wanted to experience for herself what others had described after visiting ’“Abdu’l-Baha in the

Holy Land.

I spent most of the next three months in railroad baggage cars and in hotel rooms as Miss Root did her best to attend as many meetings as she could manage where ’Abdu’l-Baha spoke. He had arrived in New York City, went to Washington, D.C., returned to New York and then went on to Chicago. In between her duties as a newspaper writer, she managed to follow Him to these cities and hear Him speak often.

He stopped in Pittsburgh overnight and gave a talk on His way back to Philadelphia. Miss Root had left me unpacked on the bed while she hurried on to help the Pittsburgh Baha’is make arrangements. When she returned, she held a white rose in her hand—a gift from her precious Master.

“It is as though every promise of Baha’ullah is in

His eyes,” she said, although .

no one was in the room. “I have never felt so much love come from one human being. I must do everything I can to serve this Blessed Servant.”

The light within Miss Root was now ablaze.

I didn’t spend much time in the closet after that. Miss Root had a burning desire to take the healing Message of Baha’u’llah everywhere in the world. And she did.

For the next twenty-five years Miss Root visited every

continent but Antarctica. I think the only reason she didn’t go there is because penguins cannot become Bahda’is. Everywhere she went she made friends, gave speeches and wrote articles for local newspapers so that the people living in the cities and countries she visited would not miss the Message that she had come so far to bring.

Whether in Asian countries like Japan and China or the closer and more familiar countries of Europe, Miss Root’s travels were filled with adventures.

One adventure I remember was during Miss Root’s first trip to South America in 1919. She was determined to visit as many cities and towns in South America as she could. We had already traveled through Brazil and Argentina on the east coast. Miss Root knew that ’Abdu’lBaha also wanted people on the west coast of South America to hear about Baha’u’llah.

In order to make her way from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Panama up the west coast, she would have to cross the high Andes mountains. The very high Andes mountains. The very high Andes mountains in the winter. And there was no such thing as a passenger airplane back then. So how would we get over these great, snowcovered mountains? By mule, of course.

I had been in packed railway baggage cars. I had roughed the high seas crossing the Atlantic Ocean. I had even survived being tossed around by New York taxi drivers. But when the mule driver tied me onto the back of a small pack mule and I looked at the snowcovered mountain that just went right on up into the sky, I kissed my brass latches goodbye.

But Miss Root was determined to get to Panama and if this was the only way, then that is the way that she would have to go. She kept

please turn the page

Ay b % } ‘ yp

the Li hea 497 [Page 8]- % “” a

a wonderful, courageous spirit about her. More than once, as she looked down at the hoof-wide path and the thousands of feet of empty air between us and the forests below, I heard her say the one word prayer that she called the Greatest Name. But she was fulfilling the wishes of "Abdu’l-Baha, and that is all that mattered to her. Another highpoint for Miss Root was, fortunately, much lower to the ground. She was traveling through Europe in 1926 and visited Bucharest, Rumania. While she was there, she sent a note and a book about the Baha’ Faith to Queen Marie of Rumania. I knew that she wanted to meet with the queen personally to tell her about the Baha’i message, but even I knew that queens don’t just invite anyone over for tea. But somehow this

——

queen must have known that Miss Root was not just anyone. She invited her over for tea!

Whatever clothes Miss Root had packed in me were not the elegant sort that I had seen fine ladies wear at train stations and on board steamships in our travels. However, once Miss Root began to talk to a person, it seemed as though he forgot everything but her kind blue-grey eyes, her loving interest in him and her excitement about the Message she was sharing. So, elegant or not, she wore a freshly washed and pressed long white dress and looked just fine.

The gifts that she planned to take hardly seemed the sort of things you would take to a queen either. I especially remember a piece of candy wrapped in gold foil (a piece, mind you, not a box) anda

wt

small bottle of perfume. I recognized the scent of the perfume when she set the bottle on the table next to me. I had smelled it in the Paris train station before and, as I recall, it was not the elegantly dressed ladies who were wearing it. A friend of Miss Root’s also thought a more expensive perfume might be a better gift, but Miss Root always insisted on paying her own way. This was the perfume that she could afford.

Obviously Queen Marie of Rumania was a special woman, too. When Miss Root returned to the hotel (in the queen's royal coach!) she told the Baha’is waiting for her that the queen had been very moved by what she had read about the teachings of the Faith and that she appreciated Miss Root’s bringing the message to [Page 9]by ona

£

her. It was obviously worth more to her than fancy perfumes or fashionable costumes.

I have so many stories to tell. Traveling with Miss Root was one adventure after another, from Asia to Australia to Africa to Europe to South America. Many people are born, live and die in the same hometown. For Miss Root, the world was her hometown. And the Japanese and the Africans and the Swiss and all the people in all the countries she visited were her friends and neighbors.

I recall one more trip. It was June of 1939,and our ship had left Auckland, New Zealand,on its way to San Francisco, in the United States. Miss Root had been having pains in her neck and

™, Fae ™

3 3a eo a +, t ti a oo a SS ee ~ . ~~ si ite,»

back for several years, and now it was getting worse. When we arrived at Honolulu, Hawaii, friends came aboard and persuaded her to go ashore to rest in a more comfortable surrounding. After awhile, I started to get nervous. Miss Root: had not returned and I knew the ship would be leaving soon. Finally, some of her friends came into the stateroom, packed us up and took us ashore. We were taken to the house of Katherine Baldwin, where Miss Root was staying. I was placed on a chair by a chest of drawers in Miss Root’s room. I was glad that I was in a place where I could see her kind face, tired and often full of pain now. But her blue eyes still had the interest and curiosity that I saw the first day, when she showed my silk lining to her cousin.

As the days gathered into weeks, I watched her greet visitors with love and affection, in spite of her pain. Sometimes she had a little gift for a visitor. She asked one of the ladies taking care of her to look through the things stored in me. It might be a handkerchief or a book or a picture card. I could tell that a diamond from the Queen of England would not have pleased the person receiving the gift more.

As I watched Miss Root each day, I began to understand that we would not be taking any more trips together. I had seen her tired and in pain before, but she always managed to get up and go on, as soon as she could. Now, she did not get out of bed very often. Fewer visitors came in to see her. The doctor came every day to give her medicine.

Of course, she kept on praying. Miss Root never faced pain, sorrow or fear without asking for help from Baha’u'llah. She even prayed in her sleep. And when she prayed, I saw now, more than ever, that there was sométhing about Miss Root that I could never understand. To me she was like a suitcase full of light and love. And, like me, she was wearing away. But she would be only light and love, when the outer shell was gone.

The day finally came when Miss Root closed her eyes and didn’t open them again.

On that day, September 28, 1939, Iremembered a young lady at the Cambridge Springs station fifty years earlier, facing the world with bright hopes and a brand new suitcase.

How could I be so lucky to have been that suitcase? [Page 10]

<5 rs

LAL

eZ

LZ 53

Green Lady

he giant green lady is the most

famous lady in the United States. People from all parts of the world come to see her. She is the Statue of Liberty. Dressed in a long robe, she wears a crown of seven spike-like sun rays on her head. She holds a torch up high in her right hand and a tablet with the Declaration of Independence in her left hand. A broken shackle (like a hand-cuff with a chain) lies y at her feet. NN The broken shackle stands for

WN ‘ . WN. freedom from persecution. Persecution

[Page 11]is being bullied or abused for doing what you want to be free to do, like deciding what religion you want to be, speaking in public places or trying to become a leader in your country.

Three men were involved in making this giant green lady. Edouard de Leboulaye originated the idea of the statue, Frederic Auguste Bartholdi designed it and Gustave Hiffel built it. These men lived in France where the statue was made.

It was quite a job for Eiffel to build this statue. First, he made a frame of iron and steel looking much like an oil rig. Wooden slats were then constructed over the metal frame, and 300 thin sheets of copper were pounded into shape over that. By the time the statue was finished it measured 305 feet 1 inch, and it weighed 450,000 pounds.

Statue of Liberty is anickname. The statue’s real name is Liberty Enlightening the World. She was presented to the minister of the United States in Paris, France on July 4, 1884. The people of France gave her to the United States as a gift, a symbol of their love of freedom, and the friendship they enjoyed with the Americans.

The statue was taken apart and packed into crates. It was sent to the United States on a French ship named Isere, in May, 1885. Bartholdi, the man who designed the statue, decided it should stand in New York Harbor at Fort Wood on Bedloe’s Island. The island is now called Liberty Island. It’s here the statue was erected on top of a granite pedestal to welcome those searching for freedom. This giant lady took on her green color from natural oxidation of the copper.

To take an imaginary tour of the statue, we enter its base and take an

elevator to the pedestal. We read a poem written by Emma Lazarus called “The New Colossus.” This beautiful

poem reads as follows:

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightening, and her name

Mother of exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes Command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame “Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to be free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me.

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Now we start climbing to the top. We take one of two spiral stairways that lead to the crown. It’s a long, tiring climb, but there are seats on the way up to rest on.

There’s a 25-window observation platform in the crown to view the farreaching Atlantic Ocean where ships come into port from other lands, and the New York shoreline with skyscrapers jutting into the air in the busy city. This is what this giant green lady would see if her compassionatelooking eyes were real.

Maybe you will visit New York someday or,if you live in New York, take a tour of the Statue of Liberty. Also, visit The American Museum of Immigration in the statue’s base. This giant green lady will make you feel grateful to live in America, where we are free to choose our religion and worship as we please. Knowing about freedom and persecution will help you understand why so many people from other lands come here. Freedom! This is what the giant green lady proudly standing in the New York Harbor is all about.

11 [Page 12]12

Ayyam-i-Ha

used with permission

from the cassette Loving Hands

Ay- yam- i- Ha, a gift of gold, a time for young, a Ay- yam- i- Ha, now don't for- get an ail- ing friend, an Ay- yam- i- Ha, es- pe- cial- ly a time for friends and

time for old, a time for joy, a time for fun, a in- jured pet. A time to give,a time to care, when fam- i- ly. So make that call or write that note, or

time for each and ever- y' one. Ring out! Sing out! the we have happ- i- ness to. share. Ring out! Sing out! the send a po- em that you wrote. Ring out! Sing out! the

nae

glad, glad cheer: Join in, be hap- py! A. glad, glad cheer: Join in, be hap- py! A glad, glad cheer: Join in, be hap- py! A

yam- i- Ha is_ here! yam- i- Ha is_ here! yam- i- Ha _ is_ here!

[Page 13]

Illustrated by Stefani Galaday

13 [Page 14]14

God made the world.

God made me.

God made everything that | see.

First He made the light,

Then he made the night.

He gave us the sky with stars so bright.

He made the earth:

The lands and the seas

The grasses, the plants and the trees.

He made all the creatures, Both great and small And a sift He gave

to them all.

Minerals stick together

Plants, they grow,

Animals use their senses to learn and know.

And then He made the Family of Man. We are special

in His plan.

He gave us a SOUL—

Both shiny and bright,

To know and love Him and do what is right.

He sends special Teachers,

So we may learn His ways

And live with Him through all of our days.

Both on this earth And the Kingdom above, God gives us all

of His love.

And in return, | will become all that | can be, to show God thanks,

for making me.

Illustrated by Paula Henderson [Page 15]PUZZLE

Adapted and reprinted by permission of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahd’is of the Hawaiian Islands.

e are at the end of the Baha’i year 142. Before 143 B.E. rolls around

here is a chance to refresh your knowledge of the Baha'i months. The Arabic name is given, and so is the English, but... wait...those don’t look like English words...oh, help! Please help us unscramble those words. You did know that the names are different attributes or qualities that we can strive for, didn’t you? Of course you did. HELP!!!

Ist Baha peodnsrl 2nd Jalal ylrog 3rd Jamal tubaye 4th "Azamat dergnaru bth Nur higlt 6th Rahmat cyrem 7th Kalimat drows 8th Kamal tropefinec 9th Asma’ smean 10th "Izzat thigm 11th Mashiyyat liwl 12th "Ilm welnkgdeo 13th Qudrat worep 14th Qawl chepes 15th Masa’il stonesqui 16th Sharaf roohn 17th Sultan greentyvsio 18th Mulk moonidin 19th Ala’ stilonefs

The Baha'i calendar was inaugurated by the It was sanctioned by : It is a solar calendar made up of months of days each. The Bahai year begins on , the first day of spring. The calendar dates from the time of the Declaration of the Bab in ___ (year).

Answers:

“PPST “ISTS YORI “6T “GT “UFILN Bye ‘qed -g 140g SSOUTYO]-GT ‘UOLUIWIOP-gT ‘AJUSIAIaAOS-) T “OUOY-gT ‘suoTysenb-gT ‘yoeeds-pPT ‘tamod-ET ‘aBpa[MOUY-ZT ‘[[IM-TT “WYysuU-OT ‘soweu-¢ ‘uorpej10d-g ‘sprom-) ‘o1oUl-g “WYST-g “Mepuess-p ‘Ajnvaq-g ‘A1013-z “opuelds-[ :7 quNq 1 5 [Page 16]Am Ayyanieila, lomeyoread ‘Tennolle

by Frances Worthington © 1986 A’ Ayyam-i-Ha draws near, our family begins to gather the ingredients for our favorite activity—making a nine-sided honeybread temple with candy gardens. We just can’t wait to bake the dough, build the temple and carefully landscape each garden.

Because the honeybread actually tastes better after it’s aged for a few days, we make the temple just before Ayyam-i-Ha begins. Then we put it out on a table for everyone to admire. On the last day of Ayyam-i-Ha4, we take it along to a large party and let everyone have a

nibble. That way we all get a nice taste but nobody gets sick. Yum!

op

- i : i“ i ; ' Cloves ' SS t

1. Grandpa helps us draw the plan and 2. Walter mixes ingredients and only cut out the shapes. spills a little.

3. After the dough has been mixed and 4. After the cookie shapes have cooled chilled it is rolled out and cut to the the temple can be assembled. Our pattern shapes. Elizabeth removes friend Packy Arnold comes over

16 the scraps. Now it is ready to bake! to help. [Page 17]

5. We glue the side walls together with 6. The roof tiles go up, one by one. A frosting glue. We need extra hands plastic cup in the middle helps support to help hold. them while we work.

NG A

£ ih

7. We spread green frosting and sugar 8. Packy thinks a vine climbing up the sprinkles all around the base so it wall would look nice. looks like grass, then we put in the fences. After that comes our favorite 9. It’s done! What do you think? part: decorating the gardens! Happy Ayyém-i-Ha! please turn the page

17

[Page 18]/

SS

Imstructions itor Homeylbread Temple

a

18

The first year we made an edible temple, we just used store-bought cookies. But now we prefer mixing our own dough’ because it is more nutritious, can be cut into special shapes, and because we can make “stained-glass” windows.

If you want a less sugary temple, use almonds, peanuts, raisins, fruit leathers and other healthy snacks for the garden decorations.

To make a temple like the one in our pictures, you'll need:

e 1 18” circle of heavy cardboard for

the base (cut it out of a box or buy

one at a cake supply store).

batch honeybread dough

(recipe follows)

160z. cans ready-made

white frosting

plastic cup, 6%" tall

pastry bag with assorted

frosting tips

e several tubes ready-made colored frosting or food colors for tinting bits of your own frosting

e assorted candies for decorations (sugar sprinkles, lifesavers, gumdrops, licorice sticks, etc.)

‘PNETERNS

Trace the nine-sided pattern under the print you see on these pages and use it to make a nine-sided outline in the middle of the 18” cardboard circle.

Trace the other shapes and use them to make patterns out of thin cardboard or paper.

HONE VBREAD

e 5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour o

cos > SALT —SS_

e 1 tsp. cinnamon

e % tsp. ground cloves om

e % tsp. allspice

e 1 cup solid white vegetable shortening

e % cup granulated sugar

e 1 cup honey :

el egg

e 2 tablespoons water

Sift flour and spices into a bowl. In another bowl, beat shortening and sugar until fluffy. Add egg, honey and water and beat again. Stir in flour mix to make a stiff dough. Divide dough in half. Wrap each piece in waxed paper or plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour.

While dough is chilling, cover the insides of two 11”<17” cookie sheets with aluminum foil. When dough is ready, roll out one lump on each sheet so that it is %” thick.

Using cardboard patterns and a sharp knife, cut out 9 walls, 9 roof tiles and as many of the 9 fences as possible. Remove excess dough from around the cut-out pieces and put it in the refrigerator to re-chill. [Page 19]

Roll out the chilled scraps on a third foil-covered cookie sheet. Cut out the remaining fence pieces. Then cut out little people, pieces for pools or other shapes you may want. For each pool, cut out two circles of dough which are about 2” inches in diameter. Leave the first circle intact but cut out the center of the second piece.

Bake all the pieces at 350° for 12 minutes or until edges of the cookies are turning golden brown. Cool for 30 minutes on the cookie sheets and then remove carefully.

STAINED GLASS

To make “stained-glass” windows, cut out a design in the center of a wall before baking. Bake for 6 minutes. Remove from oven and fill design with crushed pieces of clear hard candy (we use life savers which have been put in a plastic bag and smashed with a hammer). Return to the oven and finish baking. The candy will melt and form “glass”.

mS

ASSEMBLY

Once cooled, the cookies can be stored, lightly covered, for a day or two. Or they can be assembled immediately.

Insert a leaf tip into a pastry bag. and fill the bag with frosting. Put — the temple sides together along lines” drawn on the cardboard base using frosting as cement. Stand the plastic cup or other support in the center of the temple to support the dome. Attach dome tiles one by one, — overlapping if necessary. : .

Attach licorice strips orcandy sticks as pillars. Pateh holesin frosting and decorate the dome.

Make grass by mixing % cup of | frosting with three drops of green food color. Spread this out around the cardboard base. For extra pizazz, sprinkle with green sugar crystals.

Put frosting along the bottom of — fence pieces and set these in place to form nine gardens.

Decorate the people first and then lay them flat so the frosting will dry while you’re working on the gardens.

To make pools, spread one of the round cookies with blue frosting. Top it off with one of the centerless circles to make a “sandwich”.

The gardens are decorated aceotiine to each gardener’s imagination and can be as simple or as elaborate as you want.

19

Experiment and have lots of fun! [Page 20]20

Go, Margarita, Go!

| Gees when the school bus stops at Margarita’s house, she hops off the last step and races across the yard. Then she rushes through the front door saying, “Mother, guess what we did today!” She loves telling all the exciting things that happen in her kindergarten class. But something was different this afternoon. Margarita had carefully stepped off the school bus and slowly walked across the yard to her front door.

“Hi, Margarita,’ Mother said as Margarita came quietly through the door. “I bought some fresh peaches today. Would you like one?”

“T guess so,’ Margarita said without much interest.

Margarita plopped down in a kitchen chair and silently watched her mother wash the fruit. When Mother gave her the peach, she said, “Iran

a race at school today.”

“Oh, what kind of race was it?” Mother asked.

“It was a practice race. Our teacher said we were practicing for the real race tomorrow. She said tomorrow is School Field Day. There'll be all kinds of races with ribbons for the winners.”

Mother nodded her head, showing that she understood. She patiently waited for Margarita to go on talking. Margarita nibbled at her peach for a few minutes without speaking. She looked puzzled.

“Mother, what does it mean when you are running arace and some kids say, ‘Go! Go! Go!’?” Margarita asked.

“Well, honey, that means they are cheering for you and encouraging you to do your best to win the race,’ Mother explained.

“A lot of kids were saying, ‘Go, Mary, Gol’,

by Pauline Ellis Cramer ° 1984

but no one said, ‘Go, Margarita, Go!’ Why is that?” she asked. Mother looked tenderly at Margarita and spoke softly, “Margarita, sometimes when we want to do things, like win a race, people will try to help us by cheering for us. Then sometimes there is no one there to encourage us. That is all right because we can find courage inside ourselves. Tomorrow when you run your race, look at the finish line, say to yourself, ‘Go, Margarita, Go! and run your very best.” Margarita liked what mother said. It felt good to think about having her own courage and cheer inside herself for whenever she needed it. That night before she went to sleep, Margarita thought about the race. She thought about how she would look running the race. She felt her heart pound with excite please turn the page [Page 21]Illustrated by Carol Walborn

[Page 22]ment. Her feet itched

to start running. She almost heard her teacher say, “Get ready, get

set, go!”

As Margarita drifted off to sleep the words kept repeating in her mind like a melody, “Go, Margarita, Go! Go, Margarita, Go!”

When the morning sun peeked into Margarita’s bedroom window, her eyes flew open. She remembered today was the School Field Day. Margarita knew it was going to bea wonderful race!

With such an early start, Margarita had time to practice running. She stretched her legs

as she had seen other runners do. She checked her shoelaces to make sure they were safely tied. She ran to the apple tree and back ten times.

Finally it was time to go to school. Margarita saw the yellow school bus and called a goodbye to her mother. Mother waved as Margarita ran to the bus.

After school Margarita thought her bus would never get her home. At last the bus turned on her street. She leaped off the bus. She raced across the front yard and burst through the door,

bubbling with excitement.

“Mother, look! I won a ribbon!”

“Oh, Margarita, that’s fantastic!” Mother exclaimed.

“I just kept my eye on the finish line and kept saying over and over in my head, ‘Go, Margarita, Go and the next thing I knew I ran across the goal and everybody cheered and the teacher gave me a ribbon!” Margarita said, all in one long breath.

“Hurrah for Margarita!” Mother cheered.

Margarita felt as if her whole body was one big smile. “You know, Mother, the best thing of all is that you were right. I can always have courage and cheer inside myself anytime I need it.” &

[Page 23]

Questions

and. more

Questions

o you know what a Hand of the Cause is?

Hands of the Cause are people who were appointed to serve the Baha’ Faith in special ways because of their deep knowledge and devotion to our Faith. They were appointed by Baha'u'llah, ’Abdu’lBaha and Shoghi Effendi. The remaining Hands of the Cause are very precious to Baha’is. This is especially true because no institution after Shoghi Effendi has the power to designate Hands of the Cause.

Questions Did you know that

someday everyone in the whole world will know about Hands of the Cause and will wish that they had been able to know one?

Did you know that out of all the Hands of the Cause, only one was the daughter of a Hand of the Cause and great Baha'i teacher and then became married to ‘Abdu11Bahda’s grandson, Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith? Her name was Mary Maxwell when she was a child, but today all Bahda’is know her as Amatu’lBaha Rthiyyih Khanum.

Amatu’l-Baha Rthiyyih Khanum has led a very interesting and exciting life. Wouldn't you like to be

able to ask her questions about her life?

The Baha’ children’s class of Grand Rapids, Michigan did just that. They asked many questions of Amatu’l-Baha and she responded by answering their questions on a cassette tape. They were very lucky because Amatu’l-Baha rarely has the time to answer all the many questions asked of her.

You are lucky too, because you can listen to this same tape. You can hear about her life almost as if you were sitting around her knees. Tell your parents that this tape can be ordered from the Bahai Distribution Service, 415 Linden Ave., Wilmette, Illinois 60091. It costs $5. a

23 [Page 24]LULU UT

aon 1 onan Smee foe

wate bt | A MMS 10 * Se U7 My bag Ad ae NAS oT ce ae . SS Venu, hak la man ve mee (4% é oh Mtn OOO Poet tna , 7

‘

“=blow across the wor

words by ‘Abdu'l-Baha music by Mimi McClellan

Like aj|can-dle must ye|shed your light

Like a can-dle must ye

NK

and|ev-en as the soft |bree-zes of God

ees AP ee eee = shed your light and ev-en as the soft

oe must ye|blow a-cross the world.

ee —@24 bree-zes of God must ye blow a-cross the world. [Page 25]

By Heart's

Ov path to living in peace is to learn to respect what others believe Bahd’ulléh

tells us how Bahdis should act toward other religions. Consort means to come together. Amity and concord mean friendship

and harmony.

g 5 a9 ee Or A GF ES mmo?

"Consort with all religions with amity and concord, that they may inhale from you the sweet fragrance of God ...

He is the source of all things and in Him all things are ended.”

Bahawllah *

Synopsis and Codification of the Kitab-i-Aqdas, p. 25

Calligraphy by Michael Hughey

25 [Page 26]ie

0 6

ALTE T//

Su

[Page 27]CA) Ses

TO NEW BEGIININiN

by Janet Bixby

l sat by my father in the control center of our space ship and tried to see Earth on our screen. It was nothing now but a blue speck. There was no telling where our house was or our town or even where the United States was. From up here, it was easy to see why Baha’ullah had said that the world should be one country, because really, that’s all it was. I hadn’t even thought much about such things before, but then, I hadn’t ever been in a space ship before. We were headed out from the moon on an international mission to establish the first space colony. It had been built for us and was all ready and waiting. I knew how it would look because I'd seen pictures. It was like a big wheel and we would live in one little section of it. When my father had been chosen to be the Captain of the ship and we had been chosen to be one of the first families to settle in the colony, I had been so excited I could hardly wait, but now I wasn’t so sure. I was homesick. There weren't many kids besides my little sister, Alice, and me, and the boys who were my age were Arabic or something else. I never could find out because they wouldn't play with anybody but each other. Since the quarreling had begun, all the groups stayed pretty much to themselves. “Dad, I asked miserably, “how come these people won't stop fighting and consult with each other? We're never going to be able to build a colony this way.”

please turn the page

=

27 [Page 28]28

“I know, son, but it’s not so easy for people to consult if they don’t want to. Once we get off this ship and things aren't so crowded, I’m hoping people will relax a little and be happier with each other.”

“T don’t see why the World Federation put such a mixture of people together anyway.’

Dad answered, “Well, the World Federation wanted to please everyone who wanted to be a part of this new colony. They are trying

very hard to get off to a good start. They probably just didn’t think what it would be like to put so many different people together on a ship with nothing to do but talk to each other. Most of the time in the past, there were mostly members of the crew on a ship, and everyone had jobs to do”

Dad smiled, and I knew he wanted to make me feel better, but he looked tired and worried. I felt bad about having bothered him, because I knew he was doing what he could. It all started because there was only one room in the ship for worship services, and there were so many religious groups that they got to arguing about who should get to use it when and for how long. No matter what Dad suggested, somebody’d be mad. We had several kinds of Christians and several kinds of Jews, and Buddhists and Muslims and Hindus, and our family was the only Baha’i family, and everybody wanted to go right on doing everything just like they always had on Earth. We had even brought special food for some groups so that they could keep their dietary laws. One of the Christians who didn’t have any diet restrictions said it was a waste of money. That made a Jewish lady mad and she reminded him that they were being allowed to celebrate Christmas, and maybe that was a waste of money. And so on it went, getting worse and worse.

“Couldn’t we leave this colony after we get it started?” I asked. “I only have one friend, and she’s a girl”

Dad didn’t have time to answer. He was busy watching something. I followed his eyes and saw a space ship heading right for us.

“I never saw one like that before!”

I said excitedly. “Neither have I? Dad said tensely. Just then we heard a strange voice on

our speaker. “Settler 1, Settler 1, do you read me?” it said. It sounded like a robot. Dad answered and the voice went on. “I represent a Universal Federation you have never met. We have watched you, and we feel your plans for colonization may endanger the galaxy and yourselves. We ask permission to send an observer aboard to study the situation more closely. We will not harm you.”

“T will discuss this with the rest of my crew,’ my father said calmly, and he sounded just like he always talked to people from other planets, even though he never had in his life. I was really proud of him, and I was even prouder of him because he stayed calm during all the talk that followed.

“But how can we trust them?” someone asked.

“Well, it’s dangerous if we do and dangerous if we don't,” an old Lieutenant answered.

“We have three choices,’ Dad said calmly. “We can say no and prepare to fight; we can say yes and let one of them come aboard; or we can turn around and go home.”

“I say we should fight,’ said a young military officer.

“If that ship really does represent a federation, we could be one ship against a thousand,” said our doctor, and most people agreed with him.

Then there was a lot of talk that didn’t go anywhere and only made people think about how afraid they were. Finally, my dad said, “Does anybody want to go home?”

There was a long pause, and I could see that everyone was really thinking about it. We were all afraid, but we had all given up everything on earth to make this trip. Finally my dad asked again, “Does anybody want to go home?” and this time, everybody said “no” all at once.

“Well then,’ my father said, “unless somebody can come up with a better idea in the next couple of minutes, I will invite their observer aboard.”

There was another long pause, and then everybody began nodding their heads and getting ready to go back to their quarters. Not going home and letting the observer board us were the first agreements this space expedition had ever come to.

The observer was more like a robot than [Page 29]anything else, but it wasn’t really like anything Id ever seen. Its face was square with no nose and it walked on three legs. I never could figure out how or whether it slept because its legs didn’t seem to bend, but I figured it wouldn’t be polite to ask, and anyway, I was afraid. It said hardly anything and seemed to spend most of its time hiding in a corner somewhere. After a few days, nobody even thought about its being with us.

Everything went back to normal, including the normal fights.

My one friend, Molly, is a Quaker as well as being a girl, so we stayed out of it as much as we could, and we missed the brawl] in the cafeteria. Nobody’s really sure how it got started, but about twenty guys ended up fighting each other and breaking up some dishes and furniture in the process. Dad put about five in the brig and said he hoped the others would get the message.

Just about the time that was taken care of we noticed that we had a worse problem: the ship wasn’t moving. Dad had every system checked thoroughly, but nothing seemed to be wrong.

“You'd better have a talk with that observer” the old Lieutenant said, but before Dad had time to call it in, it came.

“We have stopped you for your own good and ours,’ it said, “and unless you can figure out a solution to your problems in the next 48 hours, we will give you an escort back to your own planet.”

That was all it would say. It said there was nothing else it could tell us. I felt the way I used to when my computer stumped me. That’s what it reminded me of.

Dad held a meeting for everyone on board to discuss what to do. Some wanted to ask the observer to let us leave and go home earlier, since that seemed the only alternative. Others wanted to offer it money or trade for letting us go on. Some thought if we would just tear it apart, wed have no more problems, but only a few felt that was the answer. The group was going round and round in circles when Molly and I slipped away.

“T don’t know what is going to happen tous,’ sept Molly said. ae

“T don’t either?’ I told her, “but I sure don’t ihe want to have to go home just because they

please turn the page

[Page 30]30

tell us to. I keep thinking there must be a way out, because the observer had talked about a solution.”

“Well, let’s think,’ Molly said. “We ought to say a prayer first so ideas can come.”

“That’s the answer!” I said excitedly. “It says in our writings that there are creatures on other planets, and the writings said that even before the scientists knew it, so God and Baha’u'1lah are the only ones who really understand what were dealing with. Besides that, people aren't even talking good sense in that meeting because they’re too upset with the problem and with each other. If they’d just stop and all take an hour and pray together, maybe somebody’d get a really good idea.”

“That’s a wonderful idea. We should go tell your father.”

“We'll have to wait ’til he’s finished. I can’t interrupt him,’ I said, but I could hardly stand to wait.

When he came out, Molly and I went to him. After we told him our idea, he sat thinking awhile, and then he said, very quietly,

“Out of the mouths of babes...” After he said it, he called a meeting and suggested an hour of prayer.

“It’s the only thing we haven't thought of trying, said our doctor. “Maybe it would help”

“There’s been so much religious disagreement already, and we all pray differently,’ objected one of the officers. “This prayer session might make things worse instead of better”

“Then, we'll set aside an hour for everyone to pray in their own quarters in whatever way they wish,’ my father suggested. That seemed to satisfy everybody, and we decided

‘\ it would be just after dinner that evening. J The ship was peaceful and quiet as each

family prayed together during that hour in their own quarters.

At the end of that hour, something strange happened: the space ship jerked and moved forward for a whole minute, but then it stopped again, and nothing would start it.

Of course, everyone was puzzled and disappointed, but the movement had given them hope, and most everybody seemed to be in a better mood. They began to talk to each other like they had when the trip first started.

In the morning after breakfast, my dad called a meeting of everybody. “I think that hour yesterday was a good experience for all of us,’ he said, “and it’s made me believe that there is a solution to our problem. I would like us to have another hour of prayer here and now, all together, and afterwards, maybe someonell have a brainstorm. If not, we'll at least be in a good frame of mind for deciding between the alternatives we've discussed.”

“It would take more than an hour to plan a service that will include all the right prayers so as not to offend anyone,’ objected one of the older women.

There was a long pause and then, to my surprise, Molly spoke up. “Everybody could have prayers the way we do,’ she said. “We are just quiet.”

There were murmurs of approval all around, but then a few people spoke up and said they thought it would be a waste of time. Somebody asked if any of them had a better idea, and none of them did. My dad reminded everybody that, if they didn’t want to pray, they could concentrate on problem solving, and that seemed to stop the arguing. Anyway, pretty soon, we were all sitting in silence. [Page 31]What happened in that hour is hard to tell about, because there were so many complicated thoughts and feelings going on inside me. To begin with, I prayed every prayer I know ten times over. I was glad my mom and my Baha’i class teacher made me memorize so many. After that, I didn’t know what to do. I began to be restless and wish the hour would be over. Then I began looking at people. A lot of faces looked friendlier now, that had looked mad or worried before. I remembered how, when we started the trip, everybody had been happy and anxious to get acquainted with the people who would be their new neighbors. Of course we didn’t agree about everything, but we did agree on being excited about the new colony, and we all thought our hopes for the future and our need to work together would make us forget about our differences. Now we knew that wasn’t enough. Thinking about that made me understand something I'd never thought of. Believing that everybody’s religion comes from God is one thing. Believing that everybody is O.K., no matter what they believe, and that we should always try and get along with them is another thing. And those two things are very different.

Most of the people on our ship believed in the second idea, but only we Baha'is really believed the first, and we were going to have to help others understand it. I was lucky as a Baha’i kid, I thought, because it had always been part of me. Even though I didn’t know the Muslim kids enough to play with them, I still knew their Prophet came from God and I’d heard some of what He taught.

Then, just as I was feeling really good about myself, a little voice inside said, “So what have you been doing about all that?” Then I felt really bad, because I knew I had been too upset and mad at myself to really try to make friends with those other kids. When people act like they don’t like you for no reason, it’s hard sometimes to be as good a Baha’{ as you should be, and I knew I'd been spending a lot of time feeling as cross at everybody else as they felt with me. Now I could see that unless we could all learn to accept both the people and their faiths as being good and being worth something

instead of just trying to put up with them for the sake of being a successful colony, we would never get anywhere. I prayed to God that He would give me some way to help people see that, and an idea came to me.

I was so excited, I didn’t even think to be afraid.

“It’s about the end of the hour, and I just had an idea; I said. “I bet you most of us have been saying prayers that asked for the same thing. Can I say what I’ve been saying and see 1f everybody agrees with it?”

At first my folks looked a little surprised and embarrassed for fear I would upset someone, but when they looked around at the others, they relaxed. Most people just smiled and nodded. I think some of them thought I was a kid and they should be nice to me. Anyway, I began to say, “Oh my God, Oh my God, unite the hearts of Thy servants...”

When I finished, some people had tears in their eyes, and one man said, “Yes, I think a lot of us are beginning to realize how important it is to be in unity under one God.” Then lots of people spoke up and offered unity prayers from their faiths. Some said their own and some who didn't believe in prayer said poems. People began to talk about how we needed classes on each others’ beliefs so wed understand each other better. Finally, we unanimously voted that, if we could ever get the ship to move, we would have a service once a week in which everybody could say whatever prayers or poems they wanted to. Just as we finished with that, another voice spoke up, but the voice didn't belong to any of us.

“You have made the first step,’ the observer said. “You have made five unanimous decisions, one of which did not have to do with survival. Now we will help you with your progress.”

Suddenly, the space ship started to move, and we all knew it wouldn't stop. We had a big party and even made friends with the alien. It was just like starting the trip over, only now we all knew that we had a lot of work to do to learn real unity and understanding. Everybody toasted the alien and sent thanks to his people for letting the ship start, but my family and I thanked Baha’uv’ lah. @

31 [Page 32]32

Book Nook US}

In the Year of the Boar and J ackie Robinson

by Betty Bao-Lord, illustrated by Marc Simont, Harper and Row, 1984.

y~ ' little Chinese girl

of the house of Wong was about to begin a great adventure: she and her family would be leaving China to travel halfway around the world to a new home in America! She even gave up her old name, Sixth Cousin, and her nickname, Bandit, and became Shirley Temple Wong.

Life in a new land was not easy for Shirley. Everything was so very different: the language, the children’s games, the foods—and people in her new country were of every color, shape and size! This story of Shirley Temple Wong makes us feel all the fear and excitement of learning to live in a completely new and different country. We struggle with her to make new friends and to learn a new language, to become American and yet remain Chinese. Finally, we can be happy with Shirley when she discovers baseball, and

is caught up in the excitement of the success of Jackie Robinson, the first black man to play major league baseball. Shirley sometimes calls out “Amitabha” when she is frightened or in need of help. We Baha'is can smile as we read her prayer, because this title refers to the coming of Baha’u lah in Buddhist prophecy! Shirley’s story helps us learn the exciting and sometimes difficult task of loving and cherishing all the different customs and cultures of the world, and the freedom to be whoever we are. [Page 33]

God is One, and all the Religions are One

Us Parents’ page

0K HR ER EME ED by Janet Bixby

with Deborah Bley

people of all faiths are

feeling more and more the need for all of us to work and pray together. We are all beginning to know that the problems that confront our world are too big for man to solve on his own, or even for one group to solve. Baha’is can have wonderful opportunities if they reach out for them. One area that presents itself is teaching our children the unity of religion and appreciation of the diversity of religious expression among the peoples of the earth.

I will never forget the way the person who taught me about the Baha’i Faith responded to some of my earliest questions about our faith. “I really don’t know,’ she would say in a bewildered voice. “I never thought about any of these questions. I mean, they just never seemed important.”

The questions which so baffled her would have seemed perfectly normal to any fundamentalist Christian, as well as many Christians who werent, but my teacher had been raised as a Baha’i and had had very little exposure to issues and practices considered pivotal to many Christians. To her, my concerns and beliefs sometimes seemed as foreign as if I had been Sikh or Druse. Of course, her love, her open sincerity and eager willingness to search for answers with me drew me to

E these days of world crisis,

the teachings of the Baha’i Faith, but I resolved that if I ever had a Baha’ child of my own, I would try to ensure that she grew up knowing more about the religions around her.

In our family, we have tried to follow the example of ’Abdu’1-Baha, who actively sought and embraced the points of unity in all other religions, attracting people of all religious backgrounds through His love for all of the religions of God. It does take effort and even some discipline to arrange for time with people of other faiths—to participate with them in their worship. But we have been more than rewarded with the enjoyment of new experiences and the strengthening of ties of friendship. We have gone caroling with Unitarians, meditated with Buddhists, and celebrated a glorious Easter with a group of Lutheran friends. All of these, along with other similar events, are treasured family memories.

In addition to the value of seeing and participating in the religious customs of others, we have found that the questions about and interest of our daughter in other religions have given us alla concrete opportunity to clarify the teachings of our own faith and to explore its relationship to the revelations which preceded it. Through this kind

of investigation, we have

gained insight into the history and teachings of other religions, and found ourselves confirmed in our own beliefs.

Our being committed to the independent investigation of truth has helped our daughter gain confidence in her own ability to think rationally and independently in her own journey toward the truth.

Not only have we been blessed by our excursions into other ways of life, but these have also demonstrated to others the commitment of Bahd@’is to the spiritual truths that remain eternal. This divine thread that has tied us to our Creator through all time is the very bond that can help us all erect a just civilization. The devotion of Baha'is to seeking truth and beauty in all religions will stand us in good stead to help the community of believers in God to deemphasize their differences and give our world a new sense of unity with regard to moral values. In our struggle for a peaceful world, that knowledge of our unity can be our most powerful tool. H

33 [Page 34]

Andaleeb Badiee sent us her beautiful drawing of “Brilliant

Shooting Stars”. She is nine, and lives in Westminster, Maryland.

Brilliant Star onprft g

Suburban Office Park 5010 Austin Rd. PAID Hixson, Tn. 37343 | Hixson, Th,

Permit 24

Return and forwarding postage guaranteed

�