We all know the agony of watching too many photos of people’s trips and experiences and the parallel challenge of looking for opportunities to share memories of our own. So, it’s been interesting to wait for the questions about India.

Arvid and Joyce had the most unique and stimulating questions and so they heard the best stories. Selena has been to India many times, so we enjoyed the points where our stories converged and divided. Roger has displayed an amazing ability to hear the same stories over and over and find new interest in them each time.

In all of it, it seems so important to emphasize the very limited taste of India that is my experience and that in the telling I am leaving out many things that are still percolating. Words are important and I don’t want them to mean or represent more than they should.

Last week was quite a week as we traveled to Half Moon Bay, California, to work with Nancy and John Rosenow on the Nature Action Forum.

In creating an “Action Forum” we find ourselves doing something quite different, taking new risks, facing new communication challenges and encountering exciting new possibilities. We share high hopes and expectations.

It was the Maverick surfing competition on Saturday, so we found ourselves in the midst of the 24 best surfers in the world, spectacular waves, and great excitement. Roger quickly became a surfer groupie.

We were eventually joined by son Adam and Riddhi and family for wedding planning and the ceremony around the bride’s parents, Veena and Niranjan, giving us, groom’s parents, the first invitation.

At San Francisco airport we rendezvous(ed) with Selena Fox from New Zealand for several days of World Forum, teacher educator, and professional development work. First with Bruce Schon in Palm Springs.

And then with Dan Huber and Debra Sullivan in Seattle.

Exciting and stimulating time with great people, but it does lead to brain ache!

“Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.” John Wesley

Some of you have asked for photos from India. I have to say that I was too overwhelmed to focus on photos, so these aren’t great. AND as I was often the only obvious tourist/white person around, I would have felt disrespectful trying to capture what were for me the important images. This respect issue has always inhibited my photography, so that’s why I tried to recreate images with my words and stories. Here are a few photos for you (perhaps more can be added later).

Through the work of the World Forum we have all learned about how advocates around the world use the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child as a resource in their work for children and families. The UNCRC has become, for many, the point of reference, the backbone for moving forward agendas around children. And at every international gathering, those of us from the United States must again experience the shame of the lack of support from our own country. The shame is growing stronger and it has been a continuous ache. In Belfast a discussion with Pam Boulton turned into a commitment to use our resources to stir the pot to make the U.S. ratification a reality.

World Forum Foundation and Exchange magazine have joined the Campaign for U.S. Ratification of the Rights of the Child (www.childrightscampaign.org). We encourage everyone to join us. As Pam says: “Ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is an important part of being a global citizen. It is time to ask–intentionally and insistently–that our legislators ratify this convention and that we take our place among those who agree to promote and protect the best interests of all children.”