By Chana Miller
PETACH TIKVAH, Israel – “Good morning” Simple words. We say them every day. Most people are hardly aware of the greeting by neighbors or fellow workers. But for a small group of women at Ezer Mizion, the words mean everything. They represent the Good Morning program, a visual art workshop for cancer patients. These brave women are forced to deal not only with chemo and its side effects but with the frightening future of there perhaps being no future. At times they are paralyzed with fear of the unknown, of their children journeying through childhood with no Mommy at their side. They are compelled to face what most of us don’t want to even think about. And they’re terrified.
Ezer Mizion’s “Good Morning” program at its Donald Berman Rehabilitation Center enables them confront and comprehend the inner workings of their fears. It gives them strength to move forward and to deal with the monsters that lie hidden in the deep recesses of their psyche. A recent project entitled ‘I Dreamed That…’ enabled the participants to express their dreams and nightmares using the medium of art. Each work embodied the depth of the artist’s soul and was on exhibit at Heichal Payis L’Tarbut Ul’omanut in Petach Tikvah.
The exhibit offered a glimpse into the world of the artists. Not only do they not despair but, by means of their creations, they generate within themselves encouragement and true hope for the future, building a brilliant visual world that exudes inner strength. Via this process of artistic creation, Ezer Mizion tries to restore to each of the participants the strength and the ability to do, to create, and to carry out in the present, as well as to plan for the future.
Conch
Opposite the open sea
And the endless horizon
I stand exposed
A wounded body seeking shelter
To rest from the existential battle
Inside the conch you can just be
Without words and explanations
It protects from the storms
Envelops me, my wounded sick, scarred body.
Escape Hatch
Life is like a sea, stormy, quiet. Deep and high, ebb and flow.
There are whirlpools that surround you, without control and direction.
We are commanded to live. Let’s bow our head before every wave and trouble.
Let us accept everything with love.
That way, we will get through every crisis safely,
With many prayers and much faith.
It Hurts
I dreamt that… there was a terrorist attack, and the bad terrorist stabbed me all over my body with a long knife. I was full of holes spouting blood. I cannot take out the knife. It is long and embedded so deeply in my body. The blood is dripping and the pain is increasing. All I really want to do is to exchange this body that has betrayed me with a new one, devoid of pain, scars, and unceasing suffering.
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The Battle for Recovery
At night, I had a dream… where tomorrow and today were intertwined. A dream about a paved, soft road that comes after a long, long, trek… For there were days when there was no earth beneath my feet… and I stumbled. . But in my dream, I stride and my foot treads on stable soil. The ground is solid, the footing is strong, the walking is steady, the flowers are beautiful and the soul is calm, quiet…For after the long journey I went through, and walked and stumbled and was almost broken, the long awaited day that I prayed for arrived and I found rest for my weary feet and for my entire self. I reached health and strength!
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Miller is the U.S. director of public relations for Ezer Mizion, www.ezermizion.org