Consistency in The Hands of The Courageous by

Imani Capri

I heard this quote in my head and heart as I sat in front of my laptop to write.

Immediately, I felt goosebumps; not only because of how powerful the quote is on its own, but also because of its timeliness more than 700 years after it was first written.

I first encountered this quote in my early practice and study of Nichiren Buddhism.

Nichiren Daishonin, a 13th century Japanese Buddhist monk, was the founder of Nichiren Buddhism, and the first to reveal and chant “Nam-myoho-renge-kyo” as a means of helping all people attain enlightenment and happiness.

In a letter entitled: “Reply to Kyo’o,” Nichiren wrote the above sentence within a longer response to encourage the mother of Kyo’o, an extremely sick little girl, to courageously use her faith in chanting Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo to help heal her daughter’s illness.

Nichiren went on to say, “Nam-myoho-renge-kyo is like the roar of a lion. What sickness can therefore be an obstacle?” In essence, Nichiren Daishonin likened the power of prayer and faith to the power of a mighty sword, that would only be useful in the hands of a person courageous enough to use it. In many respects, Nichiren Daishonin was a revolutionary. He refuted the state sanctioned religions of Shinto and other forms of Buddhism that taught believers to seek enlightenment outside of themselves and that only men could achieve enlightenment.

His teachings, based on the Lotus Sutra, emphasized that all living beings could attain enlightenment including women. As I sit in Cleveland, Ohio in the year of 2023 writing this opinion piece, I do not own a physical sword and I find it incredibly offensive that women are still having to “fight” for full power over our own bodies and life decisions.

However, I am writing this piece just two days after 2,186,965, Ohio residents voted, on November 7, to pass Issue 1 thus enshrining women’s reproductive rights and access to making sovereign healthcare decisions as a state constitutional amendment.

Despite the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in

2022, and a host of slick, manipulative, barely legal, tactics, and propaganda from extremist Ohio Republican law makers to keep Ohio voters from amending the state constitution, Ohioans showed up and used the mighty swords of courage, organizing, voting, working together, peacefully, across diverse backgrounds and political beliefs to create a change that honors and protects the basic human right of making decisions for oneself.

Like many of you, I watch the news and social media timelines with constant images and stories of global genocide of innocent civilians in Palestine, Israel, Congo, Sudan and beyond, with incredible heartache and disgust.

Like many of you, I too am tired of hearing about or seeing news of more youth murdered on Cleveland area streets or continued school or public mass shootings across the country.

Yet these atrocities continue. Why?

Too many real cowards, and bullies with agendas that really do not prioritize the well-being of the greatest amount of people hold seats of power.

The courageous, not the complacent, make history.

The courageous, not the complacent do the real work of creating change.

Courage requires getting comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Courage requires the willingness to exchange staying in our comfort zones for inconvenience to create positive change for a greater good.

As I reflect on what just happened politically here in Ohio and what is happening around the world, the message I am most compelled to share is: we are the change we have been waiting for, we are the change that we keep demanding from others. We are the superheroes that we have been praying for.

Yet, what use is a hero or heroine who is not using his or her voice, vote, power, talents to help contribute to creating the better world we all deserve.

The change we seek is within reach of the amount of courage we are willing to activate.

What does that look like on a practical level you may be thinking?

It looks like registering to vote, really researching who is running for office, running for office yourself, going to your city council meetings, introducing yourself to your elected officials, actually calling their offices and voicing your opinions on matters, volunteering in your neighborhood, supporting organizations that do the grassroots work for causes that you care about, supporting independent media that tell stories and narratives that major media may neglect, identifying how we each may need to heal from personal trauma, reconnecting with and using our gifts, talents and passions, mentoring, supporting businesses and brands that align with the values you have toward peace and humanity, using your voice and not being bullied into silence on the things that matter most to you, finding the positive ways in which you can contribute to solutions for yourself and your communities, practicing consistent self-care, detoxing from social media for a while, reading books, prioritizing your health.

I do not mean to sound like I am lecturing, but I am emphasizing a point.

We all have some sort of “sword” that is useful in helping to create change, but are we courageous enough to use it?

One thing I know for sure is, tasks that seem insurmountable become very achievable when more people choose to help. As a Central Committee Precinct Person with the Democratic Party for precinct 2B in Maple Heights, I had the role of going to 150 homes to help get out the word about voting on November 7 and Issue 1.

Going to those 150 addresses by myself seemed impossible but having the help of a few friends and family made it happen in a shorter time and in a way that was not a burden on any one individual.

I do not know how all those individuals may have voted or if they all did.

What I do know is that I worked with what I had to contribute to creating the change I believed in.

Whatever challenges we may face individually or collectively, that is what, I think, we are called to do, to use what we have to do what we can, consistently.

I agree with Nichiren Daishonin that: “A sword in the hands of a coward is useless”; but I would add that consistency in the hands of the courageous, changes the world.

Listen to Imani Capri on her international award-winning radio show/podcast,

“Conversations in Courage with Imani Capri” on Tuesdays at 11 am EST on www.wovu.org , the WOVU App, 95.9 FM WOVU Cleveland (local)

Follow Imani Capri @ IG: iam_imanicapri

YouTube: Imani Capri

On Saturday, September 2nd 2023 the First Annual Unity Fest was held in North Randall, Ohio. Firefighters that attended the event: Lieutenant Foster, Firefighter Shack, Firefighter Hall, and Firefighter Willingham.

My name is Anthony Lombardo and I have been a shift Captain at North Randall for approx. 4 years now. The best part about this job is having the ability to have a wide range of duties and being able to help others grow in the fire service.

The firefighters that attended the Unity Fest absolutely loved it. The men and woman of North Randal Fire Department pride themselves on being committed to the community. Public relations are very important to us.

The conversation that our firefighters had with the Youth and Unity Founder was absolutely incredible, fun and memorable.

We would like to again thank you for inviting us to this event and look forward to a continued relationship.

The North Randall Fire Department staffs 4 firefighters on shift 24/7. Each shift has a minimum of two full timer per shift which includes a 2 paramedic minimum, Shift Captain and Lieutenant.

Our projected call volume for 2023 is 1,450 emergencies. North Randall is approximately 77 of a square mile with 1,000 residents. Approx. 15% of our responses our mutual aid and we respond to approx 50 reported working fires per year.