Hope Story Circle with Jerry Downs - January 28, 2023

Jerry Downs is an accomplished photographer and artist, and brought a story about the importance of allowing creativity. The fifth in a family of eleven children, when he wasn’t doing well in his first year of school having not attended preschool or kindergarten and not knowing how to read or do simple arithmetic, his teacher met with his parents. Their decision was that until he learned to read, he was not to be allowed to draw at all. Drawing had been his life, and his identity until that time. Looking back, he felt compassion for his parents, and for his teacher in giving that direction, seeing that they were doing the best that they could. Still, his life expression has been to release creativity and create connection. From his book, Why You Were Born, which is available for free download from his website: “We are all in this together. It’s the reason we were all born. All the answers reside within you. Listen.” Check the calendar of Events at www.peacealliance.org, join us at our next Hope Story Circle and share your emerging stories!