Students’ messages on prayer flags blowing in the wind
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By MICHAEL MCHALE/Lincoln Journal Star
Jessica Rodenbaugh begins with one line, drawing swiftly with a black marker. After some brief thought and a few strokes, a woman’s eye is formed. Then a tear.
The Lincoln High School senior is preparing a Tibetan prayer flag, and she isn’t joking around. This one is for hunger. There will be more flags to come.
Rodenbaugh is one of more than a dozen students creating flags this month at Lighthouse, an after-school community for teenagers. Of all the activities the program offers, the Buddhist prayer practice is a new one for youth.
They don’t all have to be converts to be inspired — or to just have a good time.
“Not one kid said, ‘I don’t believe in prayer,’” said Peter Allman, the cofounder and president of Lighthouse. “They all believe in it. This is just a new concept us Westerners aren’t usually exposed to.”
Allman discovered the idea while doing some reading on Buddhist psychotherapy. He scanned through books more for pyschological guidance than spiritual purposes. He immediately took an interest in the flags.
The idea was basic: Words and symbols are drawn onto cotton flags and hung on a clothesline. Whenever the wind blows, the messages on the flags are sent out to the universe.
“In the Bible, it says to pray without ceasing,” Allman said. “And here was an example of praying without ceasing, because the wind is always blowing.”
When he told the Lighthouse staff his idea, they were fascinated. The concept was a welcome break from the norm.
To be sure, the norm isn’t all that boring at Lighthouse. Its new building at 2601 N St. opened on Jan. 2, and it provides updated computers and a spacious study lounge where students can do homework. When everyone is done, they can play games on a Wii or start an air-hockey match. And they can shoot hoops inside the gym connected to the house.
The point is to keep kids out of trouble, Allman said, and creative activities are always a bonus. Making Tibetan prayer flags fits nicely into the agenda.
The students began their project on May 5.
“It’s hard to keep their attention sometimes,” Allman said. “But last week you could hear a pin drop.”
Last Monday, the students centered on intentions — things people will accomplish if they simply put their minds to it. After brainstorming some ideas, the teens drew their intentions onto flags using symbols, words or both.
They also focused on issues out of their control. Whit Dawkins put a few smokestacks on his flag, and he added a cloud of pollution near the top.
He said he believes in a healthy environment, and he thinks the flag has meaning. But the Buddhist prayer part? That’s another story.
“I think these are building blocks for ideas,” said Dawkins, a sophomore at Lincoln High. “But I don’t think the flags will necessarily do anything — other than start ideas.”
On the other side of the table, Rodenbaugh drew the first thing that popped into her head. Along with the teary-eyed woman, she added a red cross in the corner and squiggly yellow streaks in the background. She filled in the remaining space with the words, “Call on Jesus when things are beyond your control. He knows your pain.”
She finished her flag within minutes.
“It was the first image that came to mind when they asked us about things we can’t control,” she said. “Because if you don’t have money, it’s hard to control hunger.”
The group will make their final flags on Monday, then Allman and his staff will hang them outside. Maybe along the facade of the front porch, he said, where no one will be tempted to snatch them away.
According to Buddhist practice, the cotton flags are supposed to hang without interruption, and eventually they will disintegrate into the atmosphere.
Rodenbaugh will miss it. After she finished her first flag, she started another one. This time she drew a heart with a crack down the middle. Two wedding rings filled the gap.
Divorce hurts, Rodenbaugh said. She knows — her own parents have been divorced for a while. She hopes her message can make some kind of an impact.
All with a few strokes with a marker.
“I’m Christian,” she said. “I’m not doing it for spiritual reasons. But if someone were to walk by and see it, maybe it would make a difference.”
Reach Michael McHale at 473-7254 or at mmchale@journalstar.com.
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