By Shelondra Peavy | In this rapidly-changing world of ours, it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to find people of purity and substance. Yet, much to my delight, I recently encountered a group of women who epitomize the importance of sisterhood, unity, advocacy, education, philanthropy, and good-ol’-fashion compassion.
Needless to say, the women of this group are ones who work individually and collectively in their own communities and beyond to promote healthy lifestyles, encourage civic involvement, support education, develop leadership, and work toward general peace, health, wealth, and abundant living.
In a collaborative effort, the wonderful ladies of I.C.O.N have taken center stage with their most recent heart-warming project. They’ve written a book solely for the purpose of inspiration.
“My Letter to the Pearls”. For me, the title alone provoked thought. A letter “to” pearls?… But then, once I read their prologue, I gained clarity. They wrote:
Dear Reader,
You may be asking yourself what would make us write our letters “to the pearls”. And to that we say, “You must first understand who the pearls are”.
The P.E.A.R.L.S. are the young girls to whom we’re committed to nurturing through leadership, fellowship, education, and mentoring.
The P.E.A.R.L.S. are the ones whose character and self confidence we will help to build through community service, involvement, and sisterhood.
The P.E.A.R.L.S. are young girls to whom we’ve made a vow. We’ve dedicated ourselves to shaping these young girls into productive women of substance.
P.E.A.R.L.S. are young girls who strive to fulfill the following oath:
P – Perseverance – I will believe in myself and accomplish my dreams and goals.
E – Elevate – I will elevate myself and others to the next level.
A – Ambitious – I will strive to be successful in school and maintain a 3.0 or higher GPA.
R – Respect – I will have respect for myself and others.
L – Leadership – I will use my goals to help uplift individuals and my community.
S – Sisterhood – I will be a sister to every ICON PEARL
Then, they went on to write: Dear Reader – Commit to identifying “a pearl” in your community and give her this book for her to treasure it, ESPECIALLY if she does not yet know her worth. Make her understand the rarity and the value of pearls.
And so – I went on to read their letters; many of which made me cry. Each of the ladies had provided vital “pearls of wisdom” plus nuggets of truth and hope to little girls everywhere; particularly those in high-risk and underprivileged circumstances. They had selflessly given life-saving words of encouragement intended for their “hopeful” young readers and perhaps even more-so for “hopeless” young readers. After all, “hope” is a very powerful gift to give.
When I read this book, I thought about myself; my 7-year-old self (the dreamer)… my 12-year-old self (the awkward jazz-lover)… my misguided 15-year-old self… my angry 18-year-old self… I thought about how nice it would have been to have known my worth and to have understood the reasons for my rarity and peculiarity. I thought about how great it would have been to have known right away that the ugly duckling was a swan, and that the funny-actin’ chicken was actually an eagle, and that the black sheep was the most valuable one of the fold.
So, with this in mind, I knew that I needed to convey I.C.O.N.’s message to the community:
Dear Reader – Commit to identifying “a pearl” in your community and give her this book for her to treasure it, ESPECIALLY if she does not yet know her worth. Make her understand the rarity and the value of pearls.
Sincerely Yours – from “ICONic Women, who were once aspiring pearls”
Wow… Hats off to the women of I.C.O.N. and to pearls everywhere!
(PLEASE NOTE – see www.iconcares.org for more information about I.C.O.N. Women’s Organization and about their awesome new book: “My Letter to the Pearls”)
