Yesterday was St. Patrick's Day and I am always happy to celebrate. My paternal grandmother (who I never met) was from Ireland, giving me just enough Irish blood to make the most of the day every year when it rolls around. So, I wore green, listened to Irish music, and could almost taste that pint of Guinness I enjoyed when I had the great experience of visiting Ireland many years ago.
But it's not Patrick I want to write about at this time. This also happens to be the time for the Jewish celebration of Purim. I am not Jewish, nor am I a biblical scholar, but I have had reason to learn a little about the story of Esther, the central figure in this particular holiday. Borrowing from Wikipedia, "Purim is a Jewish holiday which commemorates the saving of the Jewish people from Haman, an official of the Achaemenid Empire who was planning to have all of Persia's Jewish subjects killed, as recounted in the Book of Esther." The king had chosen Esther as his wife because of her beauty and was unaware that she was Jewish. As plans for the slaughter progressed, she revealed her true identity and pleaded with him to let her people live. She won him over, and the Jews were spared. There is much more to the story, of course, but that is the essential plot - and outcome.
Again, from Wikipedia: "There is a spirit of liveliness and fun on Purim that is unparalleled on the Jewish calendar. If there were ever a day to 'let loose' and just be Jewish, this is it!" Now, that starts to sound like an Irish celebration, don't you think? Maybe it's more than a coincidence that these two celebrations happen to overlap today.
Then there are the coincidences or parallels in my life. Even as Queen, Esther was afraid to approach the king and plead for her people, but her uncle (or maybe he was her cousin) Mordecai begged her to try, saying she was the only one who could save them.
I have written previously about my personal Esther story (See links below), and how the phrase "Esther kids" crept into many of the typed conversations I have had over the years using Facilitated Communication with non-speaking or minimally speaking people of all ages. One final Wikipedia reference that I find very interesting: "Given the great historical link between Persian and Jewish history, modern day Persian Jews are called 'Esther's Children'."
It started with a typer or two giving the name "Esther" when they were asked to type the name of a relative, friend or pet and I, as the facilitator, had no idea of the correct answer. Eventually several of my typers referred to themselves and the others as my "Esther kids." They told me they were my angels and begged me to tell everyone that they are really very intelligent. As time went on, I met new typers and moved more than once so that I was in entirely new communities. Most of these individuals did not know each other and had never even lived in the same town or attended the same school. Some started to talk about the New Earth or moving into new dimensions. They made it quite clear that they are here on a mission and I am the one they are depending upon to speak their wisdom for them.
Most recently, just yesterday in my typing session with my adult friend Nick, he typed the following: "Understand that people need to hear your story. The most important message is your Esther story. Great more people are now ready. Hear me now. There are more messages all the time. Be not afraid to tell your stories. Hear me now. All of us are on the journey. There is now more love in the world. Hear me now. Great things are happening. . . . . you need to tell people who is Esther. . . . Hope is understanding that Esther will be here to do God's world (work?). Warning that people don't love. Understand that other people do not get it. . . . Be more bold. Knowledge is here." (Note: the phrase "Hear me now" is one of Nick's favorites and actually popped in more often than is shown here. He says the phrase out loud and types it with no physical support from me. For the rest of his typing I am providing light support to his hand or wrist.)
For all these years (almost 30 now), I have been afraid. Much like that early Esther in the Bible, I wasn't willing to take the risk, to go out into the world and shake things up in the way they were suggesting. She had to face the king and I had to face all the long-standing beliefs about people with autism and other "differences" that caused them to be unable to use oral speech to communicate. But she had Mordecai and I now have Nick to prod me onward and give me the nudge I need.
In my defense, Facilitated Communication has been challenged and discredited by the skeptics almost from the very beginning. Many, many children have been denied access to this means of communication, and many others who actually started using it to express themselves have had it taken away because of all the controversy. Mostly it has been hard (impossible?) for the decision-makers to believe the typed words are actually coming from the typer and not from some sort of ventriloquism on the part of the facilitator. If someone like me adds to the discussion that some of these individuals, in addition to being highly intelligent, are also messengers from another dimension here to move all of us forward in our evolutionary journey - well, you can imagine the repercussions.
So, here I am, daring to approach all who venture to this blog post, with a new and improved message from my Esther kids. They are not only smart, but they are also here on a very important mission. It has something to do with the journey we are all on - to a new and better world. I can't tell you much in the way of specifics, but over and over again, I have been reminded that "the answer is love." Can it be any simpler? Does it get any better than that? Enjoy the journey!
Grandma Char's Lessons Learned: My Esther Kids (grandmacharslessonslearned.blogspot.com)
Grandma Char's Lessons Learned: The Search for Skallagrigg (grandmacharslessonslearned.blogspot.com)
