Inspiring a Decade More
Imagine the world is a greenhouse. A place where you can plant anything from tomatoes to flowers to herbs. A seed is planted in the soil, so the journey begins in darkness. But the seed has to be fed and nourished and watered. In time that seed grows into a living organism that is unique and beautiful. In order for the new plant to continue to thrive, it needs water, nutrients, and sunlight. Then the baby plant
keeps growing and eventually becomes what it was meant to be.
Imagine that every human being is a seed. Like a seed, every human needs proper care and nourishment and light because people cannot thrive in shadow and darkness. Like a seed, people have great potential to grow into something that has worth and meaning. As humans we are given opportunity and the “nutrients” that will allow us to flourish: love, respect, compassion, acceptance. These are the nutrients that help create justice in our communities. And justice is like a flower-a thing of beauty that brings hope and peace to the world.
To help the plant in the greenhouse along the way, it needs a gardener or caretaker, someone who cultivates the soil and carefully tends the plants. But who does this for people? We cannot become people who bring hope and peace to the rest of the world unless we have been fed and enlightened in the ways of hope and peace. One such person right here in Atlanta is Lisa Parsons ,a local activist who advocates for social justice. She is one of the founders of an organization calledPosts for Peace and Justice.Lisa wants people to be treated with dignity, live in safety, and feel love and respect so they can flourish. But she thinks humans can do more than thrive or flourish; she wants people to have the opportunity to blossom or “fleurish”--which is a word she coined to combine the idea of flourishing with fleur, the French word
for flower. To Lisa this invented word captures what happens when a person becomes the best and happiest version of themselves. It does not stop there, however. A “fleurishing” person then does everything they can to help others “fleurish” as well.
Lisa wants to bring her vision to the Compassion Corridor.
Lisa helped found Posts for Peace and Justice in 2012 after a career as a family nurse practitioner. For four decades Lisa worked with patients often focusing on women’s health and stress management. “I knew how much domestic violence, rape, and sexual harm affected people’s lives,” states Lisa.
Hoping to find a way to use her skills and passion for helping others to make the world a better place, Lisa discovered a powerful organization called One Billion Rising which is dedicated to ending gender-based violence around the world. Lisa joined the Atlanta chapter and became co-leader. She focused on social justice intersectionalities, and “It was a place I could use my desire for creating a better world and
address issues near and dear to my heart.” One Billion Rising uses artistic media such as spoken word, visual arts, poetry, and story-telling to raise awareness. Lisa saw right away “How the use of creative arts helped people work through issues, take in new learnings, and become mentors for others.” This was the beginning of Lisa’s journey into the world of social justice activism.
It wasn’t long before she knew she wanted to find a creative medium that would “Help people work through issues, increase their knowledge base about issues that matter, and help communities work together.”
She came up with the idea to get communities to create social justice messages on tall posts that could be displayed in various places in communities. And this is how the organization Posts for Peace and Justice came to be.
Since 2012, Lisa and fellow activist Kira Corser have been co-founders and co-directors of this organization. Since then they have created and installed more than 80 posts focusing on various social justice issues-60 posts in Atlanta and almost 30 more posts in California.
So how does Lisa get from a great idea to make the world a better place to the completed project of posts for peace and justice? She actually has quite a process. Lisa often works with a sponsoring organization such as a church or community group and begins getting the word out to folks interested in participating. She likes to gather participants in a workshop setting, usually over a weekend. She carefully plans a meaningful experience that includes videos, guest speakers, and various artists - all of which help explain, enlighten, and encourage the participants to think about the topics. Each workshop is led by Lisa or her co-founder Kira with intention ____
The participants gather on Friday evening to get to know each other and discuss the topics, and then the real brainwork begins! Participants divide into groups and brainstorm and research quotes, facts, and images that they think will best represent the topic. The next day is filled with collaboration, fine tuning ideas, and determining designs. Finally the groups
begin the process of creating their individual posts. Depending on the number of participants, they usually produce anywhere from four to eight posts by the end of the workshop on the third day. And the results are amazing!
What does Lisa hope to change through the creation of these posts? Overall, Lisa wants people to be willing to explore, contemplate, and understand how to make their community more inclusive and compassionate. But the answer is really two fold. The first group impacted are the ones who attend the workshop and create the posts. The process encourages the participants to practice and deepen communication and
leadership skills as they seek to build communities that are compassionate and inclusive of all voices. She wants “to have people gather around in conversation, and workshops where we can teach those things that build safer and more satisfied communities.”
The second group impacted are the ones who see the posts that are placed in the community. She hopes to “beautify spaces through meaningful art” as the posts “help raise awareness in communities of social justice issues.” Ultimately, the Posts for Peace and Justice organization hopes “to me a medium from which a community can learn more about itself and choose what actions . . . would be most wanted and needed by the particular community.”
Lisa and Kira have worked with an impressive array of organizations and events to create posts and share their message including the following:
Jimmy Carter Center
Martin Luther King Center
National Center for Civil and Human Rights
create the Compassion Corridor which is a section of the Stone Mountain PATH that already connects several cities stretching from Scotdale to Avondale in Dekalb County, and created by the PATH foundation .The Compassion Corridor now features several sculptures and pollinator meadows, and Lisa is adding a number of posts throughout the area. The posts will give people the opportunity to reflect on various social justice issues. This is to remind people that the spirit of compassion can flourish in Atlanta and encourage others to “fleurish.” Lisa hopes the corridor will be a place “where each person has a voice and the outcome has all voices heard and addressed.”
The hard work of
striving for social justice continues. Lisa will carry working with groups to create more posts for the Compassion Corridor and beyond. She wants all to know “I would like to invite any organizations that are attempting to make their community and the world a better place to come work with us.”
Did you know that you can help create a more compassionate Atlanta every time you go to the supermarket?
If you have a registered Kroger Plus Card (available for free at the Customer Service desk in every Kroger store) and a Kroger Community Rewards online account, and choose us as your designated non-profit organization, your purchases will begin earning rewards for Compassionate Atlanta within 7 to 10 business days!