{"id":3983,"date":"2012-04-12T14:03:43","date_gmt":"2012-04-12T14:03:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/karenspearszacharias\/?p=3983"},"modified":"2012-04-12T14:06:50","modified_gmt":"2012-04-12T14:06:50","slug":"homer-simpsons-hometown-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/karenspearszacharias\/2012\/04\/12\/homer-simpsons-hometown-meeting\/","title":{"rendered":"Homer Simpson’s Hometown meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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The girl with the gentle smile came up behind me, quietly, like a five-year old who knows not to interrupt when mommy is talking.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d just finished a talk at City Hall in Springfield, Oregon. Yes. The very home of Homer Simpson.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Reading at the Benton County Library<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As far as I know none of the Simpsons were in the audience, although, I can\u2019t say for sure since I knew very few of the crowd by name.<\/p>\n

Aaron Donley was there.<\/p>\n

I met him first. He was loitering outside the City Hall meeting room, same as me, waiting for someone to come along and open the door. We were the first to arrive for the 11 a.m. meeting. I don\u2019t make a habit of being early, although I do make a habit of being friendly.<\/p>\n

\u201cHi,\u201d I said, offering my hand, \u201cI\u2019m Karen Zacharias.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cKaren Zacharias?\u201d he said, turning his head the way Poe does when he\u2019s trying to figure something confusing out.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know you.\u201d<\/p>\n

That didn\u2019t surprise me. The meeting had been well-reported. I was joining with Dave Ziegler, director (30 years) of Jasper Mountain<\/a>, a family treatment center, and Greg Ahlijian, author of The Large Rock and The Little Yew<\/a>, a children\u2019s story of hope and survival.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u201dm the author of A Silence of Mockingbirds<\/em>, the Corvallis murder story,\u201d I offered, hoping that would help the fellow towering over me figure out how he knew my name.<\/p>\n

\u201cKaren Zacharias? Don\u2019t you write for Burnside Writers<\/a>?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

Now I was the one cocking my head funny. \u201cWell, yeah, sometimes,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m Aaron Donley,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

We laughed. Aaron and I\u2019ve \u201cknown\u201d each other through Burnside for years, the way bloggers do. In reality, we know nothing of each other. I don\u2019t know who his people are. He doesn\u2019t know who my people are. I don\u2019t know whether he\u2019s Baptist or Pentacostal or whether he thinks women ought to be ordained to preach or not. I had no idea he even lived in Homer Simpson\u2019s hometown. Come to think of it, he doesn\u2019t. He was just there to support his friend Greg, who he said was just a great, great fellow.<\/p>\n

Later, when the doors were opened, and the crowd seated, Greg proved Aaron\u2019s comments true by donating $30,000 \u2014 the proceeds from the sales of his book \u2014 to Dave & Jasper Mountain.<\/p>\n

Dave gave a talk about the evolution of child abuse, how he\u2019s seen it morph over his 30-years of service at Jasper Mountain. I marveled over how it is that anyone could find that much hope. I laughed with recognition as Dave recalled how people treat him at cocktail parties when he tells people that he\u2019s director of a center for abused children.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Sanna & Emmet, David & Liz, me & Det. Mike following Benton County Library presentation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nothing makes the public squirm more than the subject of abused children.<\/p>\n

Just days earlier, I\u2019d stopped in the ladies room prior to my presentation at the Benton County Library and overheard two women from a book club talk about how reticent they were to hear me speak. Those of you who know me best \u2014 in that cyberspace way \u2014 won\u2019t be surprised that I manage to bring humor into the readings from A Silence of Mockingbirds<\/em>. You also won\u2019t be surprised to learn that I hid in that bathroom stall until those two ladies left because I didn\u2019t want them to be embarrassed by their comments when they learned that I\u2019d been in that bathroom while they were making those comments. The things you learn in a ladies room.<\/p>\n

Sometimes it feels like I\u2019m on a movie set for The Hunger Games.<\/em> All around me people are standing stock still, their faces expressionless, their wills subdued, as lottery numbers are drawn and children are led off to the slaughter. When people shake their heads and say, \u201cChild abuse? I could never read about that.\u201d I want to grab them by the shoulders and tell them, \u201cBut you must. You must. We cannot put an end to that which we never acknowledge. The lives of children depend upon you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Upon me.<\/p>\n

Then I remember something an editor said to me once \u2014 Your weakness is just your strength cranked up a notch too high. <\/em><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a wide yellow line between empowering people and bulldozing them.<\/p>\n

And I breathe in deeply and relax, confident in the power of Karly\u2019s story, my ability to tell it and the Holy Spirit\u2019s quickening.<\/p>\n

\u201cGive people a desire to read this book,\u201d my brother-in-law prays over me before every talk I give. I jokingly told my sister Linda that I think God listens better to her husband than he does me because Greg is a fisherman. It wouldn\u2019t surprise me in the least to discover that God gives the prayers of fisherman preferential treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how you do that without crying,\u201d a lady said following my talk at Springfield City Hall.<\/p>\n

Prayer.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how.<\/p>\n

Forehead to the floor kind of praying.<\/p>\n

Even the agnostics and atheists recognize that there is a demonic darkness to child abuse.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not avoidance of this subject we need \u2013 it\u2019s more prayer \u2013 and advocacy.<\/p>\n

Any specific prayer requests that I could keep in my journal for you? <\/em>That was the question one reader sent to me after finishing the book. That this particular reader works daily on behalf of abused children did not surprise me. It did, however, humble me, and left me weeping the way Jesus must have when Mary washed his feet.<\/p>\n

The beauty of such sacrifices.<\/p>\n

Like the girl who stood silently behind me as I spoke with all those people my fisherman brother-in-law had prayed over. Their eyes moist, they told me stories of abused children they know, family members they are concerned about, asked questions about how and when to intervene, \u00a0and told me how horrified and inspired they were by Karly\u2019s story.<\/p>\n

When the books were all gone, I turned to the girl, standing silently. She pressed a crumpled-up dollar bill into my hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor Karly,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s all I have but I want to do something.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 The girl with the gentle smile came up behind me, quietly, like a five-year old who knows not to interrupt when mommy is talking. I\u2019d just finished a talk at City Hall in Springfield, Oregon. Yes. The very home of Homer Simpson. As far as I know none of the Simpsons were in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2268,2888,2161,2801,244,25816,363,2893,401,453,2897,2898,2894,2890,2892,920,1153,1243,25818,2889,2896,2895,2891],"class_list":["post-3983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-a-silence-of-mockingbirds","tag-aaron-donley","tag-abuse","tag-benton-county-library","tag-burnside-writers","tag-child-abuse","tag-corvallis","tag-dave-ziegler","tag-david-sheehan","tag-don-miller","tag-fisherman","tag-fishermen","tag-greg-ahlijians","tag-homer-simpson","tag-jasper-mountain","tag-karly-sheehan","tag-murder","tag-oregon","tag-prayer","tag-springfield","tag-the-hunger-games","tag-the-larger-rock-and-the-little-yew","tag-the-simpsons"],"yoast_head":"\nHomer Simpson's Hometown meeting<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    The girl with the gentle smile came up behind me, quietly, like a five-year old who knows not to interrupt when mommy is talking. 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