January 2018

Greetings NNOA Family and Friends,

One of the core attributes of The National Naval Officers Association is community service. We have local chapters spread throughout the Far East and United States. The organization is set up this way to have far-reaching support into local communities out of which we have recruited, nurtured, and mentored some of the Sea Service finest Officers. The strong support of our local chapters, enhanced by the radical full support of retirees, and active duty members is what gives the organization ZESTO!
There is a Shift happening in the collective consciousness of our world. Whether you identify as religious, non-religious, sacred or spiritual something metaphysical is taking place on Earthly plane. I was ending our Christmas Eve Worship Services, as we were passing the peace within our community of faith; someone mentioned to me, that 2017 was an unusually painful year for them. I stood briefly paralyzed by the unexpected flood of emotions the speaker struggled with as they shared events which rendered them heart broken, filled with grief in the midst of a joyful worship experience. I made a compassionate mental note to keep them lifted in prayer. Pain is a suggestion that something is discordant in the mind, body, or soul. It can cause permanent injury; pain can shut you down and slow you down causing irreparable damage. Pain transcends religion, ethnic, gender and socio-economic backgrounds- pain brings us into a new awareness of our god, others, and ourselves. The good news is that we can come into a new way of livings, being, seeing, and thinking if we allow our painful moments to raise our consciousness. The choice is so simple it is scary, our pain can transform our thinking bringing us into a new way of existing, or our pain can lead to permanent paralysis, cementing the moment as a monument, a statue in our lives, which we always stop to visit paying homage to the wound it caused. Ever reminding ourselves that we are not healed we are simple memorializing cataclysmic pain. We use to say growing up that we needed the voice of the Elders to decode the SHIFT, because shifts often create pain, there is nothing new under the sun-just new packaging. The Elders are record keepers of the annuals of our history; they recorded each SHIFT because they were the SHIFT! I joined NNOA as a young LTJG because of my mentors, Dr. Brenda Bradley-Davila, Dr. Marian Wilkerson, and, Dr. Charles Wilson. They physically took me by the hand (sometimes while singing “Precious Lord, take my hand lead me on let me stand, I am tired, I am weak I am worn.”) These Elders have now transitioned into retirement whose testimonies I hold dear giving me wisdom & courage to stand when I want to run, to pray when I want to fold up and remain silent. I stand upon their shoulders, whispering words of wisdom and peace.

NNOA needs the voices of its Elders who have found their way back into local communities, for there is a generation of officers striving to make good on a promise in the midst of a Pharaoh who knew not Joseph. Communities process their SHIFT by the “reclaiming, renaming, and reframing of their unique story.” NNOA has a story in context of the Sea Services. Let it be told and Let the Elders speak in 2018.” Recalling and sharing our sacred stories brings renewal, and transformational healing” according to Dr. Edward Wimberley, Professor of Pastoral Care. May we find the courage to whisper words of wisdom in the sacred sharing and retelling of “How I got over.” Happy new year and happy new you!

Let It Be..
And when the broken hearted people
Living in the world agree
There will be an answer, let it be.
For though they may be parted there is still a chance that they will see
There will be an answer, let it be.
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be.

And when the night is cloudy
There is still alight that shines on me
Shine until tomorrow, let it be.
I wake up to the sound of music
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom let it be.
Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be.
There will be an answer, let it be.–John Lennon, Paul McCartney

Rev. Kimberly Cain, NNOA Chaplain

December 2017

Greetings NNOA Family,

“Youth is happy because it has the ability to see beauty. Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.” – Franz Kafka

Happy Christmas to each and every one of you! I can hardly believe that we are already in the month of December, for some the Sacred Season of Advent begins. A season filled with expectation and preparation. The excitement and joy radiates from a child’s face as they realize that the season of giving is here! We have so much to be thankful for as we look forward to the coming year. I am excited and filled with anticipation for 2018. In 2017 there seemed to be a theme of “Grief and Grace.” Grief over perception or real loss of identity due to unforeseen changes and Grace as universal energy shifts to restore balance. We experience the affect of grief as a result of loss of our deeply ingrained belief systems and cultural values. December is a time filled with customs, ceremonies, celebrations, consecrations which all come wrapped up in dazzling ribbons disguised as “gifts.” At season’s end many are filled with a sense of loss and are afraid to express the malingering grief heightened by a season exacerbated by beauty. The Holidays, while not always pleasant, should be a time that we acknowledge our joy and sorrow. They say that a person dies twice, once when the body dies and then secondly when their name is no longer spoken. It is a gift to keep the name of a person in the family. Many of the children are named for the elders that lived before them, these are the authentic gifts and keepers of a tribe’s history. May your Holy Holiday Season be filled with the names of the Elders! May joy radiate your home and good grief transform your soul!

“ A gift is pure when it is given from the heart to the right person at the right time and at the place, and when we expect nothing in return.” – Anonymous, The Bhagavad Gita

Rev. Kimberly Cain, NNOA Chaplain

October 2017

Greetings Family,

“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the sun” Ecclesiastes 3:1

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair……” Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities (1859)

In 1971 when faced with finding qualified naval officer candidates from minority communities, CAPT Emerson Emory, CAPT Claude Williams, CDR Emmanuel Jenkins, CWO James Harris and LT Johnson began forming the organization we all have come to know and love in the National Naval Officer’s Association. NNOA was birthed out of necessity in a critical time among our Sea Services. Daily I think about the climate and temperament of our country and globe as I decipher what to allow my children to view, and what they should be sheltered from. On the final evening of September my family and I settled in to watch a Hallmark film capturing a rare moment of gathering together as a unit. There was no local high school football game to run off to or after school activities. We gathered together in the family room according to ritual to watch the film “Resting Place” starring Morgan Freeman, CCH Pounder, and John Lithgow. It is 1972. The fallen body of Lt. Dwyte Johnson is brought back to be buried in Rockville, Georgia. However there is one problem. Lt. Johnson is African American and his family wants to bury him in a cemetery where he is not welcome, it is the veteran’s cemetery. He is a veteran after all. It is near the place where Dwyte played as a boy and loved the area. But his father (Morgan Freeman) and mother (CCH Pounder) are told his body is not welcome there. Following the funeral at the church and trip to the cemetery his body is carried back to the church to lie in state while the controversy is worked out. The parents are assisted by their neighbor Mrs. McAlister (Frances Sternhagen), in their patriotic and racially divided community. I found the film to be relevant as it unwaveringly addressed issues of racial prejudice. We use different platforms to educate our girls about the racial climate and tensions within and throughout our society. Our Children live and play in a multi-ethic environment we have a responsibly to teach them about the virtues and the vice of our unique heritages because people tend to respond to their appearance first and their character and behavior second. NNOA is an organization that I became involved with as a junior officer because of opportunities of diversity and the hope of long term systematic change impacting policy and influencing decision making. Our Sea Services need sound moral up standing leadership. We must be brave and deal with the painful permanent wounds of racism and sexism. While we continue to pray for wisdom, exuding love, kindness, gentleness and patiences. Let us seek the counsel of our elders and the zeal of our youth. May we learn to harness the genuine desire to give into anger and resist pride by speaking truth in love. Above all, may we have a heart that is open to the arduous lifetime work of forgiveness. Finally I offer to mirror Stevie Wonder’s brave response at the Global Citizen Festival in which he stated “But not just one knee; I’m taking both knees. Both knees in prayer for our planet, our future, our leaders of the world and our globe. Amen,”

What side of history were you on in 1971 at our conception? Which side will you be on in 2017? NNOA needs you to be on the side of hope in this season. Will you take both knees with me and pray?

Kimberly Cain, NNOA Chaplain

September 2017