As this paper reported (“Ringing the bells for Ukraine,” March 24), the Peterborough Unitarian Universalist Church bell is ringing Thursdays in solidarity with the people of Ukraine. Other church bells in the area are also ringing, and we hope that this act will spread.
Ringing bells doesn’t lessen the horror of what the Ukrainian people are experiencing, and the sound is not going to stop the Russians. So why did I do it? As Edward Everett Hale said, “I am only one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something.” As I pulled the rope, I felt teary with the awareness of what was going on across the ocean, and felt emboldened. It was a public act, daring to interrupt folks going about their daily business.
For me, raised to be polite and not make a fuss, interrupting and disrupting folks is not accepted behavior. For decades, instead of “cursing the darkness,” I have kept a candle in my window for different people or causes. It has been a lone, quiet, personal and polite way to strongly take a stand for love, kindness and hope.
However, sometimes we need to sound an alarm. The ringing bells remind us of the pain of the people of Ukraine. The bells also give us an opportunity to pause for a moment to feel compassion for those who are suffering and to send prayers or thoughts to them. The bells prod us to notice and appreciate the blessings of beauty and normalcy we have. The bells prompt us to seek peace and express kindness however we can.
A number of us signed up to ring the bell, so my next turn won’t come for several weeks. I hope I don’t get to ring it again.
Merry Stockwell
Peterborough