Recently, my son Ben, known to his many middle school language students as Mr. Dalgas, sent me this photo of his classroom door. It is surprising and dear to see his honoring Mama, the grandmother he never met, for breast cancer awareness month and Día de los Muertos. When she was the activity director for Don Bosco Community Center in downtown Kansas City , MO, in the mid sixties, Mama’s work was inspired. There were many children of various ethnic backgrounds and abilities she taught and loved. One year she wrote a children’s play titled “Flight Into Understanding”. Her message of overcoming hate with understanding is timeless, and necessary now more than ever. Finding her original handwritten script brings her essence even more to the present.. I am now over 10 years older than she was when she died. How much she missed, but how big her heart was .
”Peace is a major concern for us all and yet except for those of us who have sons who may be called to fight or those whose sons are now at war, it is still something far off, unreal. More real to us is a feeling of day to day struggle to pay bills, loneliness, a rushing to get necessary things done. Sometimes there isn’t even time to laugh or smile, to be happy or to do another person a good turn. And yet, if a little time had been spent each day in this manner perhaps the bitterness all over the world would not have reached such proportions. We can never undo all this hurt, but we must start now with this generation teaching them love and understanding, which is the theme of our show.
This is a fantasy play that is also realistic. The time is the present, the place is anywhere in the world where a large group of children of different nationalities are playing. It could in fact be right here – say a block away.. There is to be a play at this school at which the children are to costume in the dress of their native country.. There is some rivalry. It is not new. It has existed for many years. Yet, we propose that this misunderstanding and distrust can be overcome – perhaps through the mind – in a dream. “.
As a fairy played by my sister Ruth enters a scene where two sisters ( one played by me ) are sleeping after a stressful day at school, she prepares them for an adventure that takes them around the world to meet children from many lands and cultures. She sings to them and recites these words
“Sometimes within a dream, our troubled thoughts unwind
What seems so hard to understand can suddenly be clear
Tonight you’ll dream you take a trip to many far off lands
You’ll find you like the children there , they’re the same everywhere.
You can’t keep hating other folk , you have to learn to love.
Put on your coats , pack your bags – we’re leaving right away
To go to see what it is like in lands across the way
Don’t be afraid, I’m by your side to guide you all the way.
Hurry children , grab your things the countdown has already begun
We’re taking off by rocket ship , its much much more fun!”
As the girls are taken around the world to many countries, the native children sing and share lovely songs and dances. It was a simple but meaningful presentation performed by untrained children. Our mama had many travels in her lifetime across the states, but never across an ocean. She ended the play with this epilogue
“We hope you liked our show. We hope that ancient prophecy – They shall beat their swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks – could come true within this generation and that this dream of peace and understanding become reality.”
Secrets from Granny 