White Squirrels, Ukraine, Buncombe 2043

Local is global. Personal is societal. The mundane is ultimate. Earth is one.

On 24 February 2024 while driving to a peace rally in Asheville, NC, I saw not just one, which I have seen several times before, but two white squirrels. Just as I turned the car to leave our mountain forest neighborhood, one fluffy white creature darted out from the woods on the right, scampered across the road in front of me, and disappeared up the wooded hillside on the left. Then suddenly, another apparition of white appeared on the right, scrambling up a tree, disappearing from view. I was so amazed that I called my wife to tell her. She was also excited. White squirrels are mythological creatures that symbolize the coming of change and the need to prepare for it. Or are they simply rodents?

Arriving in Asheville, I parked my car, walked to the White Duck taco shop, ate a tasty lunch, and walked to nearby Pack Square where the rally was to take place. Everywhere were flags and signs of blue and yellow, the colors of the Ukrainian flag. Caring people were gathering downtown in this small, American city to express solidarity with Ukraine on the second anniversary of the war and to call for peace and justice in Ukraine and around the world.

What called to me to participate in this event?

First, promoting world peace: I have been a pacifist protesting war for sixty-one years since my days as a freshman at Oklahoma State University. I did not fight in the Vietnam war because I requested and received an official deferment as a member of a religious order. Since then, I have been demonstrating, speaking, writing, teaching, and practicing peace and nonviolence.

Second, supporting Ukraine through effective local governance, compassionate action, and peace: In June 2003, I was in Ukraine on a UNDP mission to advise the government on the formation of a national program on local governance and development which involved traveling around the country including to Chernobyl. A few months after I returned home, my beloved wife passed away from cancer. (But that is another story which includes the great blessing of marrying again in 2007.)

Years later, in 2019 at a meeting in Chicago at the US headquarters of the Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA), a nonprofit with which I conducted community, organizational, and leadership development initiatives in five countries for twenty-two years, I encountered a colleague from Ukraine, Svitlana Salamatova (photo above). She was a member of ICA Ukraine and was trained in the ICA’s Technology of Participation (ToP). After I made a presentation to the meeting about my book A Compassionate Civilization: The Urgency of Sustainable Development and Mindful Activism, Svitlana came to me and asked if she could create a Ukrainian language edition of the book. I was delighted, gave her an enthusiastic yes, and said that her local nonprofit should keep all proceeds from sales. We then raised some money for the initiative.

With the war beginning in February 2022, however, this effort was delayed, and I and many have been deeply saddened by the ongoing violence and death in Ukraine. The translator was so moved by the book that she gave her fee for the treatment of a young man who had lost an arm and a leg. And the son of the editor died suddenly of a heart attack during a prolonged missile attack.

Third, connecting Ukraine and Asheville: In February 2024, Svitlana wrote to me saying that the Ukrainian edition of the book was finally being published in paperback and as an e-book, and that she wanted to present a copy to me at my home in Swannanoa, NC, in late March. She would be driving down and back, between New York where she was participating in a UN event and Atlanta, Georgia, where she would be attending a conference. During her stopover, it seemed to me that it could be useful if she were to meet with the local Ukrainian community. Therefore, I contacted the administrator of a local Ukrainian group in Asheville, and they recommended that I could meet someone named Anzhela at the rally. I wanted to let her know that Svitlana, now the president of the Geopolitical Alliance of Women in Ukraine (photo below), was coming and that it might be useful if Svitlana could meet with members of the local Ukrainian community during her brief visit.

Fourth, practicing local governance locally: So, when I arrived at the site of the peace rally in downtown Asheville, I registered, picked up a sign, and asked a few people if “Anzhela” was there yet. I was told that she was not. As I was standing there, holding a blue and yellow sign, I struck up a conversation with someone who turned out to be the chairman of the Buncombe County Commission, Brownie Newman. He was there to read a proclamation of support for Ukraine. I felt very much at home talking with him about local governance and development and about his leadership journey in our county.

When asked where I lived, I said Swannanoa, and he shared that he had graduated from Warren Wilson College. I told him how much I love that inspiring school located near my home. We talked about Buncombe county’s 2043 vision that had recently been approved with community input. He mentioned that the county would like to carry out actions that can move toward that vision. I said that I and a few other local colleagues knew participatory strategic planning methods, and that now with an agreed on vision of 2043, residents could identify current obstacles that might block achieving the vision. Next they could develop twenty year strategies to deal with those blocks and move toward the hoped for future. And finally, citizens could brainstorm five year and one year plans of actions that would help achieve the strategies, deal with obstacles, and realize the vision. I thought to myself that I would like to discuss this further with this personable, insightful, caring county leader.

I mentioned to Brownie that I have been part of a local group of volunteers east of Asheville, the Swannanoa Watershed Action Network (SWAN), that is working to promote social justice and ecological regeneration locally. He mentioned that the county is interested in supporting efforts to improve the county’s watersheds. I realized that we need to discuss this further. I told him that meeting him must be one of the reasons for my being at the rally.

Fifth, practicing urban development partnerships internationally: Brownie then needed to speak with someone else, and I learned that Anzhela had arrived. When I met Anzhela Greene, I was touched by her authenticity and light. She had been told that I wanted to meet her. It turned out that she is heading an Alliance of US-Ukraine City Partnerships. Again, my field of urban development and local governance appeared like a white flash. Was this another reason why I am here today? I told her about my 2003 UN mission to Ukraine to strengthen local governance and development, gave her a photo of the Ukrainian language cover of my book on a compassionate civilization, and said that Svitlana would give her a copy in late March. Anzhela told me that she looked forward to meeting with Svitlana.

I touched my hand to my heart and pledged support for peace and justice in Ukraine and around the world. Here I was, an Oklahoman and a global citizen, with ancestors who have lived on this continent since the seventeenth century, meeting a Ukrainian-American in our local city in western North Carolina with our hearts hurting for Ukraine and hoping for peace around the world. We exchanged contact information, and Anzhela said that she wanted to meet me again for more discussion. I thought of the policy advice and program coordination on urban development with which I had been involved in my sixteen years with UNDP. I then introduced her to Brownie right before he spoke to the rally. What might emerge from these encounters among Svitlana, Anzhela, Brownie, other colleagues, and me?

Later as I reflected on the eventfulness of the peace rally, I was inspired again by the mystery of the local being global, and the personal being societal. I was awakened yet again by the mundane being ultimate, and the Earth being one. You and I and all of us humans are Earthlings sharing a brief moment together on the same local planet of air, water, soil, plants, insects, animals, cultures, infrastructure, institutions, and technology. I recalled the exclamation of paleontologist/theologian Pierre Teilhard de Chardin when asked why was he so happy. “Why am I so happy? Because the Earth is round!”

The Earth is indeed round and all of us Earthlings are learning to live together in mystery, love and gratitude, and in peace and justice! Yes.

So, is a white squirrel a mythological creature or a ordinary rodent? And, perhaps more importantly, is homo sapiens a violent, greedy species or are we beings of understanding and compassion? What say you?