Messages
to the DSS:
Doukhobor Society of Saskatoon
By Koozma J. Tarasoff
December 8
– 9, 2007
Re: Annual Meeting
December
8th, 2007
I would like to congratulate all of you in the work you
have
done during the past year. Meetings, bread-baking,
singing, the Annual
Commemoration of the Doukhobor Peace Day, and the general
outreach are
all noble activities that are worthy of you as Spirit
Wrestlers. Thank
you for your generous work and goodwill. Our benefactor
Lev N. Tolstoy
would have been pleased because he, like you, emphasized
that ‘The
Kingdom of God is Within You’.
At the same time, I know that continuity is a concern in
the
Society. We are not many, but we have the power of our
heritage as well
as the tools of cooperation and love to make things
happen. We are the
yeast for a new world of hope and peace.
As I outlined in an earlier letter, I believe the time
has
come for the wider Saskatoon area Doukhobors to seriously
consider the
construction of a Doukhobor
Peace
Library and Museum on site connected
by a corridor to the Doukhobor Community Home. Please
explore this
possibility for funding from local, provincial, national
and
international sources. This facility will not only be a
record of the
powerful innovations of our past ancestors, but it will
provide a
wonderful resource for both young and old, such as doing
research,
assisting students in making class presentations and in
general serving
as a Centre of Doukhobor Learning in North America.
As a Centre of Learning combined with the Community Home,
you
will have important ingredients for continuity of
Doukhoborism in the
local and wider communities. Go for it!
Sincerely, Koozma J.
Tarasoff,
Ottawa, Ontario
Re: Message to the
Sunday
sobranie in Saskatoon December 9, 2007
Dear Friends, Brothers and Sisters:
As we gather for this festive Christmas Holiday Season
and the
New Year, let us give thanks for our bountiful harvest:
- The accomplishments and gifts of the past year,
- The joys of having old friends and meeting new ones,
- The magic of our community to cooperate together in
song,
in work and in outreach,
- The commitment to build bridges of understanding,
- The strength of the power of Love in our lives, and
- The hope of our work in cultivating peace for
all.
We as Spirit Wrestlers / Doukhobors are gardeners who
know the
meaning of life and death. Our forefathers burnt their
guns in 1895. As
true pioneers, they have vividly and painfully plowed the
path of love
for us and the world’s children. We are the children of
that noble and
courageous heritage. Let’s not forget that. Let’s do our
part to
tenderly cultivate the soil and nurture the tender roots
of wisdom to
alleviate the struggling and ailing world.
Iraq, Afghanistan and many other places in our global
community are crying out for a helping hand. Let’s use our
intelligence
and our hearts. Guns, bombs, missiles, land mines, and the
military
industrial complex cannot guarantee us a caring nonkilling
society.
That is why we in this beautiful sobranie in Saskatoon
cannot sit idly
by and allow institutionalized atrocities to take place.
We as the
power of one group can make a difference.
We are the carriers of the DNA of life. Let us remember
this
as we celebrate another year and give thanks for the joys
and love that
we have spread around the world.
In friendship and appreciation, Koozma J. Tarasoff, Ottawa,
Ontario.
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