Third Way Archive

Making peace by advocating for education around the world

October 8, 2018 Third Way

Making peace by advocating for education around the world Alliana Rempel has raised thousands of dollars to support inner-city shelters in Winnipeg, the Children’s Hospital, and the Malala fund. Most recently, she published her first book, the proceeds of which will support education around the world. Alliana, of Arborg, Manitoba, is also just 11 years old. Her book, One, which she illustrated and wrote, is about a young girl in a war-torn country and her magic school supplies that come to the rescue when her school is shut down by terrorists. She was inspired to write it after she read I Am […]

Climate Change and Women

August 6, 2018 Third Way

By Whitney Ricker, Climate Advocacy Intern, Center for Sustainable Climate Solutions Climate change is not often thought of as a gender issue, yet it is becoming increasingly clear that women are particularly vulnerable to its impacts. As we continue to see an increase in natural disasters and environmental degradation, global poverty and suffering are also increased, further marginalizing vulnerable populations. In many parts of the world, women are at a significant disadvantage as compared to their male counterparts, making their survival during times of crisis much more difficult. Globally, women between the ages of 25 and 34 are 22 percent […]

Children bridging differences

August 1, 2018 Third Way

Children bridging differences By Rachel Bergen Walk into Hagar Association, a school in Be’er Sheba, Israel, and it looks like almost any other school. But if you listen closely, you’ll hear children speaking both Hebrew and Arabic and see them playing together—uncommon sounds and sights in the region. Hagar is a bilingual MCC-supported school for 330 Jewish-Israeli and Palestinian citizens of Israel (sometimes called “Arab”) children, ages 1 to grade six. The children come from homes where Islam, Judaism or Christianity are practiced. The school is the only one of its kind in the Negev region of southern Israel. According […]

We are still here

February 28, 2018 Third Way

We are still here Miriam Sainnawap, author of this reflection, is Co-coordinator of MCC’s Indigenous Neighbours program.  She is Oji-Cree from Kingfisher Lake First Nation in northwestern Ontario. Her reflection is prompted by the story of Tina Fontaine, a 15-year-old Indigenous girl who was murdered in Winnipeg in 2014. The white man charged with her death was acquitted in February 2018 because of insufficient evidence. Prior to her death, Tina was in the care of Children and Family Services. Tina’s death galvanized attention on the reality of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada and led to the establishment […]

A messy journey from military service to pacifism

February 8, 2018 Third Way

By Austin Kocher I did not join the military out of a duty to America (whatever that means), or because military service ran in the family. I joined because I wanted out of Ohio, I wanted college money, and I wanted to challenge myself as much as I could. However, it is important to say that there was nothing in my social and religious world at the time that would have challenged my decision to enlist. In fact, enlisting is an easy way for working class people to earn instant social capital in the form of respect, admiration, and deference. […]

A lament for the children

A lament for the children Esther Epp-Tiessen Twenty-three years ago, my husband and I held our son Timothy as life ebbed from his cancer-ravaged body. Over his short eight years, he had struggled with cerebral palsy, hydrocephalus, and epilepsy, but it was medullablastoma (a form of childhood brain cancer) that ultimately killed him. Tim’s prolonged illness – and our journey with him – have made me especially sensitive to the suffering of children. Because of Tim, I cannot bear to see children suffer. I am especially enraged by the suffering inflicted on children by other humans. Consider these realities: According […]

Top Ten Films of 2017 – by Media Matters reviewers

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January 17, 2018 Third Way

Vic’s Top Ten Films of 2017 Counting down, in a year of great films made by and about women: 10. Their Finest – In a year when, for the first time, my top-ten list includes two films written and directed by women, as well as eight films with a female protagonist, it’s appropriate to begin with a film about the role of women in filmmaking (and in WWII Britain generally). Written by Gaby Chiappe and directed by Lone Scherfig, Their Finest stars Gemma Arterton as a screenwriter for a 1940 propaganda film about the retreat from Dunkirk. It’s much more […]

A prayer of response to Mary’s Magnificat

December 21, 2017 Third Way

A prayer of response to Mary’s Magnificat The Magnificat is often understood to be a song of praise. Recorded in Luke 1:47-55, it is Mary’s response to the prophecy that, through her, God’s fulfillment will come. I sometimes struggle to believe Mary’s strong and powerful affirmation of the coming of God’s “upside down kingdom.” Mary’s words are meant to comfort and give hope to those seeking justice, but injustice continues and at times even flourishes. Where is the mercy for those who fear the Lord? Did I miss the proud being scattered? When I look at the leaders of the […]

The day Paola taught her teacher a lesson in kindness

December 15, 2017 Third Way

By Trevor Scott Barton Nine out of ten students at my school in South Carolina come from families whose income level meets the federal guidelines for poverty. Paola, an immigrant kid from El Salvador, is one of them. She is a first-grader and she lives in a small apartment with her grandma, mom, sister and uncle. Her family’s low income means she is likely to suffer from poor nutrition, inadequate health care, an inferior education and a bad future. I’m struggling against her life-crushing poverty with all of the compassion, creativity and commitment that I can find inside of me. […]

What is Canada’s Persons Day?

October 27, 2017 Third Way

Persons Day By Monica Scheifele October 18 is Persons Day in Canada. It is a time to remember and celebrate the historic 1929 decision of what was then Canada’s highest court of appeal – the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council of Great Britain – to include women in the legal definition of “persons”. The idea that women would not be considered persons seems absurd today and even more ridiculous to think that this was the case less than 100 years ago. Aren’t all human beings persons? Apparently not in Canadian law before 1929 when the definition was still based […]