Quilting Behind Bars

A friend sent me a report on a prison where the inmates are making quilts that are donated to children.  Not only were these men learning a skill while helping others but they were also helping themselves.  All of them reported feeling for the first time that what they did mattered.

Those of us who are quilters already know that feeling.  Donating our creations to help others is a big part of what we do.  When we aren't giving quilts, we share fabric, knowledge and friendship.  Quilters know that when you give; you receive.  What you receive might not buy groceries or cause others to see you as important but it does give you peace and, as the prisoners discovered, the knowledge that what you do matters.

I think that is particularly important right now when there seems to be so much division and hatred.  I am disappointed that in a time when we need each other for support and encouragement, we face animosity and judgement.  Perhaps the whole world needs to stop everything for one day and, instead of demanding rights that they haven't earned, they would look for ways to help. It might be even better if we all just turned off the computer and volunteered to read to children in the hospital, clean an elderly or disabled persons house, sit and really talk to a street person or anything else that would help them understand what is really important in this world.

Blessings