Greetings children of light -
This is PM, the Bay Area focalizer, writing you from
Berkeley, CA.
We are suffering from confusion overload here. All of my
information so far has indicated that the Gathering would be
in Kentucky this year. However, Yesterday I got word from a
focalizer in Oregon, a reliable brother, who said that his
Howdy Folks was being sent out with a map to a site in
Alabama. As you can imagine, tongues are doing a lot of
wagging.
What does this mean? Is there a conflict again this year, as
there was last summer? Will there be two gatherings,
seperated by the inability or unwillingness of scouts and
etc. to arrive at a peaceful agreement on a site. Will we
forever be a bunch of scatterbrains who can't get it together
to do preliminary planning and act in cooperation and send
out accurate information to that effect?
Many folks here, self included, have blown a lot of dough on
tickets to Kentucky. Needless to say, there is aggravation
about this. But my main problem is that there is no clarity,
no focus, and no resolution of conflict. For many people,
this is the first exposure to Rainbow. What's their
incentive to join us if we are no better at communication
and peace than the culture we seek to change?
It appears from here that there has been some behind-the-
scenes rigging going on somewhere. The point of consensus is
to arrive at a solution that all are content with - even if
that means not getting all we wanted in the first place. It
is not about getting your way, and it is not about overriding
the feelings of others. It is about creating a common
understanding out of divergent points of view.
As a focalizer, I communicate with MANY different people, and
I still can't get clear information. On the one hand, I have
Marken telling everyone in his Howdy Folks that Alabama is the
place. On the other, I have Petros telling me Kentucky. It
sets up a situation where I am forced to decide which of my
brothers I should believe, and I want to love and trust both
equally. I shudder to think how difficult it would be to get
information if I was the person on the street. People ask me
every day where the Gathering is, and I have to tell them
that I don't know. People ask me what the problem is, and
I don't have an answer. How is this a part of the Peace plan?
It is not a bad thing to have conflict - it's how it's dealt
with that is often unhealthy. It is not a bad thing to have
more than one Gathering - but it would be better to arrive at
that decision peacefully together as a whole, a year
beforehand, so there would be no reason for anyone to wonder
where the Family would be, or which was the "real" Gathering.
I have spoken with family members whose feeling have been
hurt by all of this, and I can't help but wonder how many
others have been hurt and alienated in the process. The
division last year hurt many and it showed. It's a shame
upon us all that we didn't learn our lesson then, and a shame
we can't put our desire to be together before our need to be
separate.
Please respond with a clear story of the conflict and its
roots, along with accurate information on what is happening
at both sites, and directions to the Alabama site. Please
be as objective as you can. Please put yourself in someone
else's shoes so that I can hear them through you. Please
help me give good information to those I love, so that there
are no more hurt feelings or fears of deception.
I am asking a difficult task of you, I know, but we need the
light. You have a hard job to do there, and we love you and
your willingness to work for the family.
Thank you very much, sisters and brothers.
PM