David Roy presents the first Award for Common Good to Ellie Bluestein.

 

Thank you to all who are honoring me in the name of Esther and Carl Robinson, whom I greatly respect and admire for their actions on behalf of the common good. I deeply appreciate the recognition which you are giving me tonight. But I have to quote my friend Louise Erickson. When WILPF (Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom) presented her with a Life Membership in this organization of which she had been such a loyal, hard working member for many years she said, “Why should I be rewarded for doing what is important to me with the people I love the Best.” That really says it all for me too.
I feel very privileged. I have loving and supportive family and friends, a great house with a good, hybrid car, adequate health insurance, Social Security and Retirement income on which I can live comfortably, no debt. When I sit in my beautiful garden, smelling the flowers and listening to the birds, I think of the billions of people around the world who are dying for lack of food and water, fleeing refugees who have no permanent place to stay, people at the mercy of unbelievable violence, torture, oppression, and war, war war!

And I know that the world has such abundance that every single person could be able to live the way I do.
About 10 years ago Pat Wolk and I did a series of interviews and photographs of 20 Fresno Women committed to change. We asked them why they were willing to risk in order to bring about changes and why they thought other people were not willing to do so. The word “greed” was mentioned. Here’s what Ernestine Leas said: “I believe that everyone is entitled to food and shelter and education and medical care just because they’re breathing, and that we ought to find some kind of an economic system where these things would be available to everyone. I would hope that we could begin to feel that none of us needs to amass great fortunes and want to have more and more, that we would get more pleasure out of seeing everyone having the good life. But I think that’s one way the United States has gone wrong. We’ve got mass culture that says you’re supposed to work as hard as you can to get absolutely as much as you possibly can, and you’re supposed to protect it from everyone else. The conniving that’s done in that area is to get ahead of the next person, especially the have-nots.”

Marcia McLane put it this way, “I have been so blessed during my lifetime, that I need to share this. It is fulfilling. Most of the things that I have done, there was a need. I guess I’m the kind of person who responds to crises. I never thought of them as risks. I guess part of it is I’m not so attached to things. There are some things that I would feel bad if they were ever taken from me, maybe family pictures. But I don’t have any gold candlesticks. I have a lot of silver, but these things were given to me. If other people need them more than I do they should have them. Maybe other people don’t do things they could do because really they’re guarding their personal possessions.
I joined WILPF 53 years ago, when I was pregnant with my first child. I remember nursing him, later feeding him in his high chair, feeling total responsibility for the life and survival of this helpless human being. And at times tears streamed down my face when I thought how awful it would be to not have enough food for this child, knowing that many mothers around the world were faced with this horrible reality. I felt an incredible bond with mothers all over the world whose circumstances prevent them from nurturing and protecting their children. I still feel this strong bond, and that is one thing that has kept me in WILPF, which is an international organization, with sections on each continent, in 38 countries, and I have met women in many of these sections who struggle in the same way that I do for peace and justice.

I have no great philosophical or spiritual wisdom to impart, so I just wanted you to know the simple basis for my values and actions. And I’d like to end with a poem.But first I’d like to recognize some special people. My children, Evo and Juliana, Jemmy, Cordia, Masha and Isaiah. My cousin Nina Youkelson who came from San Francisco to be here tonight. Two friends from Minnesota, where all my children were born, who happened to visit us at his time, David and Barbara Tilsen. I also want to thank Jack Osterhaus for presenting me with this beautiful corsage, and again, each and every one of you who is here with me tonight. Special thanks, of course, to the committee who chose me for this award, and who helped expedite the event. David Roy has been the main force behind the planning and carrying out of this wonderful evening’s program, publicity, mailings, all that good stuff. I appreciate all the work he did and have really enjoyed getting to know him.