4 A
❘
SATURDAY EDITION
❘ DECEMBER 10, 2016
Siuslaw News
P.O. Box 10
Florence, OR 97439
NED HICKSON , EDITOR
❘ 541-902-3520 ❘
EDITOR @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
Opinion
E XTRAORDINARY P EOPLE
Nin Sharyn Bebeau
C ATHERINE J. R OURKE
For Siuslaw News
_____________
“W
hen you find peace
within yourself, only
then will you create
peace in the world.”
That saying sums up the work and
philosophy of Nin Bebeau, an artist,
psychologist, author, teacher, lecturer
and relative newcomer to Florence
who dedicated her life to travelling
the globe as a peace ambassador
before relocating here from her native
New York last year.
“A very wise teacher once told me
that to make a difference in this
world, you must first make a differ-
ence in your own life,” she said.
“Then you can expand it to your com-
munity and wider horizons.”
While Bebeau has followed a
diverse path of artistic, academic and
diplomatic pursuits around the world,
her unwavering compass has always
remained focused on peace.
“I vowed as a young woman to live
my life without experiencing war,”
she said. “That morphed into doing
whatever I could to prevent it.”
But Bebeau would have to stare at
war in the face before developing her
vision to promote peace.
Born in a snowstorm and raised in
Brooklyn by Holocaust survivors,
Bebeau recalls how the loss of family
members at a concentration camp
cast a shadow on her early life. Like
the young girl featured in the novel
“A Tree Grows in Brooklyn,” she
grew up in Williamsburg, a danger-
ous neighborhood overrun with
hatred and violence during the civil
rights era. Bebeau turned away from
that dark world and to books instead,
becoming a voracious reader and
digesting advanced psychology
tomes at age 10.
“Instead of fighting the powers
that be, I wanted to be the change I
wished to see in the world,” she said.
Bebeau set out to follow Gandhi's
advice at an early age. By 17, she had
joined a civil rights group — her first
step toward a lifetime of promoting
peace.
Then came marriage and parenting
and an unforgettable trip to Israel that
forever changed her life. Bebeau
arrived just two days before the Six
Day War, a paradigm she had sworn
to avoid at all costs. Now she found
herself immersed in it, living and
working on a kibbutz a mile from the
Syrian border while her husband
fought on the front lines.
“We believed we were creating a
world with freedom for all,” she said.
“We wanted to support that idealism
for equality.”
Shortly after the war, the couple
moved to San Francisco where
Bebeau worked the switchboard of a
Haight-Ashbury crisis center. Under
the tutelage of inspiring mentors, she
created peace “one person at a time”
by developing a successful job pro-
PHOTO BY CATHERINE ROURKE
World peace ambassador Nin
Sharyn Bebeau views Florence as
“a mecca for helping people.”
gram helping people get back on their
feet. She also became a self-taught
woodworker, selling her crafts at the
Embarcadero and Fisherman’s
Wharf.
“It was a fantastic time,” she said.
“We believed that anything was pos-
sible and that love would save the
world.”
Bebeau moved to Boulder, Colo.,
where she established a supportive
community for single moms after her
marriage dissolved. There, her life
and work would blossom. After
attaining master’s degrees in
transpersonal
psychology,
she
worked as a teacher and therapist spe-
cializing in archetypal life coaching
with her second husband, psycholo-
gist Charles Bebeau, Ph.D.
“Within two years, I got married,
had two children, wrote two theses,
acquired two master's degrees, found-
ed a graduate school and authored a
book,” she said. “I never slept.”
Over the course of 30 years, the
couple established four graduate-
level institutes for transpersonal psy-
chology, developed curriculum,
taught classes, facilitated groups, co-
authored books and provided psy-
chotherapy services. They also lec-
tured on nearly every continent for
several global peace organizations.
“It was extraordinary to connect
with people of various religions,
races and social classes around the
world,” she said. “Despite our differ-
ences, we were all dedicated to creat-
ing peace, understanding and uncon-
ditional acceptance. It isn’t a process
I try to do but a state I exist in.”
Bebeau also started a peace move-
ment involving women of all faiths
and nationalities through United
Nations forums and international
conferences. In 2007, she went on a
peace tour to the Middle East with
military generals and Native
American leaders and, on her way
through Europe, Bebeau passed an
exit sign to Dachau, where her fami-
ly members had been killed.
“I suddenly understood that even
though I cannot go back in time to
save my siblings, I work for peace so
no more little children will die,” she
said.
After her husband passed away in
2008, Bebeau returned to New York
until moving to Florence in October
2015.
“Florence is a mecca of creativity
and for helping people,” she said.
“It’s an honor and privilege to live
here.”
Bebeau now dedicates her time to
writing, volunteering for local chari-
ties such as SOS and hosting a show
called “Tomorrow's Child” at KXCR
Community Radio. She is also work-
ing on her first novel.
With the current climate of politi-
cal divisiveness, terrorism, violence,
hatred, war and even climate change
itself, Bebeau shares her philosophy
for achieving peace.
“Together, we can be heroes,” she
said. “Each of us must clarify our val-
ues, stand for what we believe and
speak our truth. We can open our
hearts to recognize how significant
every life is, letting the light of jus-
tice shine through us for the better-
ment of all members of our commu-
nity and society. That way we can
carry the torch of freedom, equality
and peace to illuminate and inspire
others around the world.”
Catherine J. Rourke is an
award-winning journalist, author
and book editor who teaches
creative writing at the Florence
Regional Arts Alliance.
Email CJReditor@gmail.com.
LETTERS
Good Samaritan
and see if it’s for the better or worse.
Gail Katz Hanson
Florence
A big thank you to whomever found and
turned my ring in at the Fred Meyer store here
in Florence. The ring was left to me by my best
friend of 50 years after she passed away.
Thank you again!
Betty Scarborough
Florence
Health care
corporate money pot
Sorry for rude remarks
In response to Donna Dobson’s letter (Dec.
7), I am sorry for the man’s rude remarks to
you. I am also sorry for my own rude remarks
over the past several months during what was
the most contentious campaign I can remember
in my 66 years.
Emotions on both sides have been very
strong. Like you, I have had people respond
rudely to me.
After some pretty intense experiences on
Facebook, I have decided to just let it all go
because, really, it isn’t me; it’s the fact that I
don’t agree with them.
Some people don’t like to hear “let’s agree to
disagree...”
That being said, an awful lot of people voted
for Secretary Clinton. At last count, she
received over 2.6 million more votes than
Trump and they aren’t finished recounting.
Those of us who voted for Hillary did so
because she was the complete opposite of
Trump. I’m not going to list her points because
after this very ugly campaign season, we know
what her platform was.
However, I’m a bit confused about President-
elect Trump’s platform. I know he said he wants
to build a wall between America and Mexico
and send all the “illegals” home.
I know he is against Syrians coming to
America and has essentially declared war on
Muslims. I know he has been accused of being
a sexual predator and I feel he promoted vio-
lence and bigotry during the campaign.
USPS# 497-660
I know he wants to make business pay big
time with what I believe is a 35 percent tax for
moving overseas — and yet he manufactures
many of his own products overseas.
He said he wants to unite the country, to iden-
tify with middle class and poor Americans, yet
many of those who have been appointed to his
cabinet are millionaires and billionaires.
He appointed Oklahoma’s Attorney General
to head up the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) even though he has close ties to
the fossil fuel industry — something that seems
like a conflict of interest.
General Flynn has retweeted a fake news post
about Hillary Clinton being connected with a
child sex slave ring at a pizza parlor, prompting
a man with an AR-15 to “self investigate” the
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John Bartlett
Jenna Bartlett
Ned Hickson
Susan Gutierrez
Cathy Dietz
Ron Annis
Jeremy Gentry
pizza parlor and shoot into the business while
families were inside.
To be honest, Donald Trump frightens many
of us but I agree that it doesn’t give any of us
the right to be rude to each other despite the
rudeness Trump himself has displayed at times.
In the four years ahead, he’s going to need to
develop a thick skin. Saturday Night Live will
probably satirize him the same as other presi-
dents.
For everyone’s sake, I hope he is successful,
but I think his vision for the country is different
than the majority of voters in America. His pos-
turing towards North Korea and fondness of
Putin concern me.
I can’t imagine how different this country
will be in four years, but we’ll just have to wait
After years of promising to do away with
President Obama’s Affordable Care Act,
Republicans now have their chance. Their
attempts will create a different set of winners
and losers as big insurance crafts a for-profit
business plan that will have little to do with
health — and much to do with the corporate
bottom line.
Inevitably, the model fails because of the
large segments of the population who will be
left to fend for themselves.
Insurance corporations’ insistence to keep
their hands in the health care money pot will be
the downfall of the GOP attempt.
You might be surprised to learn the answer is
waiting in the wings in Oregon in 2020. A ded-
icated array of doctors, nurses, health profes-
sionals, business men and women, and thou-
sands of citizens of all ages have been tirelessly
organizing for a health care system that serves
everyone in Oregon, is equitable, affordable and
able to provide high quality universal health
care — all while saving millions of dollars by
employing a Medicare-for-All (single payer)
system.
Please get used to the concept of single-payer
and research the success of countries that have
employed it for decades. Visit the Health Care
for All Oregon website at www.hcao.org and
get involved.
When the time comes, we will need every
enlightened vote to overcome the vested inter-
ests and misleading advertisements authorized
by big insurance and their corporate and politi-
cal allies, like those that helped defeat a similar
measure in Colorado this year.
Stuart Henderson
Florence
Pres. Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461
TTY/TDD Comments: 202-456-6213
www.whitehouse.gov
Gov. Kate Brown
160 State Capitol
900 Court St.
Salem, OR 97301-4047
Governor’s Citizens’ Rep.
Message Line 503-378-4582
www.oregon.gov/gov
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden
221 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-5244
541-431-0229
www.wyden.senate.gov
FAX: 503-986-1080
Email:
Sen.ArnieRoblan@state.or.us
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley
313 Hart Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-3753/FAX: 202-228-3997
541-465-6750
State Rep. Caddy McKeown
(Dist. 9)
900 Court St. NE
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1409
Email:
rep.caddymckeown@state.or.us
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio (4th Dist.)
2134 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-6416/ 800-944-9603
541-269-2609/ 541-465-6732
www.defazio.house.gov
State Sen. Arnie Roblan (Dist. 5)
900 Court St. NE - S-417
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1705
West Lane County Commissioner
Jay Bozievich
125 E. Eighth St.
Eugene, OR 97401
541-682-4203
FAX: 541-682-4616
Email:
Jay.Bozievich@co.lane.or.us