Radical Joy Revealed
May 25, 2016
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Radical Joy Revealed is a weekly message of inspiration about finding and making beauty in wounded places. We hope you'll enjoy these doorways into places that are both familiar and surprising, and we welcome your suggestions, stories, and photos. Click here to subscribe. 

RadJoy Bird in parking lot
RadJoy Bird for an uprooted tree in a supermarket parking lot
A friend from Pennsylvania writes:
 
When I approached our local supermarket, I was horrified to see work crews uprooting all the beautiful flowering plum and crabapple trees that lined the big parking lot.
 
At first all I could do was stand there and cry. My husband and I have a habit of parking under the trees whenever we go shopping, instead of in the middle of the lot, because it's always pleasant to return to a tree, even if you're just lugging bags of groceries.
 
I realized I had to make some beauty for these trees. I went to one of the heaved-up stumps and apologized to the trees. I told them I would miss them. Then I made a little abstract RadJoy Bird for them.
 
But that didn't feel like enough. Inside the store, I found my way to the manager's office and knocked. A man with the name tag, "Scott" came out.
 
I wasn't confrontational. I just told him I'd been shopping there for years and was upset that they were taking down the trees.
 
"Believe me," Scott said, "we're not happy about it either." He explained that the roots had gotten tangled under the concrete and the trees were dying. They had to take them down, but they were going to replace them with new trees.
 
When I left him, I didn't feel any better about the trees, but I did feel a strange exhilaration. No longer ignorant and victimized by circumstances, I felt empowered. I had addressed my distress both by making beauty for the trees and by speaking to the manager. I saw how simple action can be.

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It's time for the
Global Earth Exchange, the day when people all over the world make simple gifts of beauty for the places they love
that have fallen on hard times.

Saturday, June 18--worldwide!

For information  & to register 
click here.
To discover or join other events  forming around the world, see our Listings and Map

Radical Joy for Hard Times is a global community of people dedicated to finding and making beauty in wounded places. Reconnecting with these places, sharing our stories of loss, and making acts of beauty there, we transform the land, reconnect people and the places that nourish them, and empower ourselves to make a difference in the way we live on Earth. 
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We love sending you Radical Joy Revealed each week and sharing inspiring stories and ideas that make a difference to people struggling to find meaning, beauty, and community in challenged places We're committed to offering this newsletter at no charge to you, our readers. Currently, our organization is experiencing a severe financial crisis. We welcome any contribution you can offer. Thank you for supporting RadJoy!
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