As most of you probably know, I was fortunate enough to be able to go to Washington, DC, this past weekend. As we stood waiting for the march to begin, I spent a lot of time thinking about what had brought each of the roughly 300,000 people to that march for peace on Saturday, and about the thousands more who wanted to be there and couldn't (thank you, I could feel your presence beside us as we walked). I could feel the anger we shared, the feelings of helplessness and impotence, the clear vision that changing the course of things is not an option but a requirement, and the deep commitment that whatever can be done must be done, no matter what. I talked with other activists along the way who all worry about the time they are taking away from their families and jobs, the money they spend going to meetings and supporting candidates and organizations, who wonder if political activism is the way they really want to be spending these years of their lives, who wonder whether it will all turn out to have been a waste of time in the end.
The bottom line, though, was that despite all these worries, these same people showed up to be counted. They marched to be visible. They brought signs, puppets, buttons, stickers, costumes, music, street theater, poetry, chants so their own unique voice could be creatively expressed. They stood solemnly in front of the White House, feeling there was something that should be done, but not knowing what exactly. When someone quietly said, "Storm the gates!" they all felt the call resonate, but they remained peaceful, solid in their nonviolence, fully aware that a violent solution would be a capitulation, would be no solution at all.
The following day they spoke to their Congress members or aides, struggling to find eloquence, struggling to make their points of view heard above the moneyed propaganda and lies, struggling to voice their passionate belief that war is a crime against humanity, a betrayal of all that makes us human. They argued, cajoled, demanded, and pleaded for their leaders to show at least some of the same commitment, to be willing to stand up against injustice and cruelty, to risk speaking the truth, to voice their indignation and outrage without reservation, to vote their principles courageously.
It was (in the original meaning of the word) an awesome weekend of action by an awesome gathering of individuals.
We are all ordinary people trying to deal with extraordinary circumstances. When young men and women are called to war, they are expected to make great sacrifices--leave their families, the comforts of home, their jobs, years of their youth, and possibly even their lives. And young people have made those sacrifices for generations, trusting their elders who taught them it was a noble, courageous, just and honorable thing to do.
We know better. We understand the terrible betrayal of our young people that war--and this war, especially--represents. Which leaves me with just one question: What are we willing to sacrifice when we are called to peace?
For some of us, being in DC last weekend was part of the answer. For others, calling people for a County Council candidate is their contribution to the greater good. No political action is trivial, no amount of effort is inconsequential. Everything produces some kind of result. Everything adds up. But--the participation of each and every person is required if we are to work out whole and just solutions in time for our children. (Have you ever read the Seuss book for children, "Horton Hears a Who"? At least as good a read as Lakoff.)
One of the most moving experiences I had in DC this weekend was a visit to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial . It's rather out of the way, though not far from the Lincoln Memorial, and is in a beautiful park setting beside an inlet of water. The memorial itself begins with a life-size statue of FDR in his wheelchair--not larger than life as so many of the memorial statues are, just ordinary human scale. The memorial consists of several open-air "rooms" with walls of red granite, tumbling waterfalls, several statues and pieces of art, and quotes etched into the stone walls.
As you ponder the question of what you are willing to sacrifice for peace, I'd love to share with you some of the words of FDR from those walls. They had a healing effect for me, and I hope will for you, too.
"The structure of world peace cannot be the work of one man, or one party, or one nation. It must be a peace which rests on the cooperative effort of the whole world."
"We must scrupulously guard the civil rights and civil liberties of all our citizens, whatever their background. We must remember that any oppression, any injustice, any hatred, is a wedge designed to attack our civilization."
"They (who) seek to establish systems of government based on the regimentation of all human beings by a handful of individual rulers call this a new order. It is not new and it is not order."
"I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, and ill-nourished. The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."
"No Country, however rich, can afford the waste of its human resources. Demoralization caused by vast unemployment is our greatest extravagance. Morally, it is the greatest menace to our social order."
"Men and nature must work hand in hand. The throwing out of balance of the resources of nature throws out of balance also the lives of men."
"In these days of difficulty, we Americans everywhere must and shall choose the path of social justice, the path of faith, the path of hope and the path of love toward our fellow men."
"I have seen war. I have seen war on land and sea. I have seen blood running from the wounded. I have seen the dead in the mud. I have seen cities destroyed. I have seen children starving. I have seen the agony of mothers and wives. I hate war."
"Unless the peace that follows recognizes that the whole world is one neighborhood and does justice to the whole human race, the germs of another world war will remain as a constant threat to mankind."
"We have faith that future generations will know that here, in the middle of the twentieth century, there came a time when men of good will found a way to unite, and produce, and fight to destroy the forces of ignorance, and intolerance, and slavery, and war."
"The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith."
"This Generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny..."
(For a list of all the quotes, go to:
http://www.nps.gov/fdrm/memorial/inscript.htm )
With love,
Nancy Ging
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