Whoever You Are

Wild Geese
by Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting–
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

I believe every person deserves a place in this world. Every person, regardless of religion, race, sexual orientation, and gender identity, has a right to be happy, free, equal, and safe. I do not assume to know all that there is to know about these issues, and I know I carry certain biases that I may or may not be aware of having, but I do know that at the kernel–at the very core–I feel love.

With this shawl, I am shouting out my love to those whose very identity is questioned, devalued, underrepresented, and judged. This wonderfully bold, amazingly bright shawl is my proclamation that I SEE YOU!

To those of you in the LGBTQ community, I have your back. I will fight for you. I will write and march and call–and I will offer up this shawl in support of the most vulnerable in our community.

You are not alone.

This week, I am auctioning my Exploration Station Shawl by Stephen West in support of The Trevor Project, the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) young people ages 13-24.

There is so much hate and misunderstanding being directed towards the LGBTQ community from the current administration, it is my hope that this week, we counter all that hate with a lot of love.

Please join your voice to mine as we shout out our support to youths in the LGBTQ community by adding your bid, knowing that 100% of the proceeds of this shawl will go to help provide a voice on the other end of the line when someone in crisis reaches out.

This shawl is knit out of four colors of Madelinetosh Merino Light, a luscious handdyed in the US 100% merino yarn. It is very large and yet extremely lightweight. It is squishy and soft, vibrant and striking.

It is a gorgeous shawl!

Please feel free to share this post with anyone and everyone, because the higher the bidding goes, the more impact this one beautiful shawl can have.

• The opening bid starts at $50 and begins NOW.
• Please bid in whole dollar amounts.
• All bids need to be within the comment thread of this blog post in order for everyone to keep track of the highest bid.
• I will close the auction at 7:00 PM MST on Monday, March 27th.
• When the auction is over, I will send the winner an email; the winner must donate directly to The Trevor Project within 48 hours and then forward the confirmation email to me as proof; I’ll coordinate getting the shawl to you by April 3rd.
• If the winner lives away, I will cover the cost of shipping the shawl via Priority Mail.
• Once again, 100% of the proceeds of the winning bid will go towards the cause, this time to The Trevor Project.

Much love to all of you…and happy bidding!