Eyes Wide Open

This weekend, the American Friends Service Committee-sponsored exhibit, Eyes Wide Open, made a stop here in Downingtown, PA. A stark and moving visual representation of the individual human cost of our military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, Eyes Wide Open is a memorial dedicated to the fallen soldiers and Iraqi civilian fatalities in the form of a pair of boots or shoes representing each life lost.

The Quaker Meeting I attend had the honor of hosting this display of 190 pairs of military boots... one for each soldier from Pennsylvania that was killed. A tag adorned each pair, bearing the name and the hometown for the son or daughter (brother, sister, mother, father...) and in some cases, a photo, notes, letters, and other mementos donated by their loved ones.

A perfectly beautiful autumn day... colored leaves swirling among rows of boots standing in silent attention.

Included in this exhibit was also a small memorial, entitled "The War Within", dedicated to the more skewed numbers of hidden casualties...'white boots' representing the soldiers who had taken their own lives upon returning home.

Offering my help in any way possible to this effort, I was given the task of helping to move the exhibit from its current location inside the schoolhouse, protected from the previous day's rain, to the outdoors... a place just across the field and within view of plain Quaker headstones. In particular, I was asked to relocate the display of shoes representing the Iraqi civilians who were killed during the conflict to a clearing just in front of our playground.

I carefully gathered the pairs of shoes, tagged with foreign names, and ages ranging from 80 to a mere month old.... sandals, sneakers, dress shoes, tiny baby booties.. and, with the help of two other women, arranged them in a kind of labyrinth formation that invited the visitors to walk among them. It was then the full power of this exhibit hit me... as fully as I imagine it was intended to. I had already been a peace activist in mind and soul, but this... this went straight to my heart.

This is not a protest. This is not a political statement. This is a simple and stunning reminder of war, whether wrong or righteous...and its ultimate reality.

Teach Me the Use of Silence

The day before I attended Quaker Meeting last week, I was forwarded a link to a segment of the Bill Moyers Journal, exploring the motivations behind the July shooting spree in a Tennessee Unitarian Universalist church which was speculated to have been fueled by "shock jock" radio.

The introduction to the segment framed the intention of this presentation to drive home the underestimated power of words.

From Moyers, taken from the introduction:

"...the American author Oliver Wendell Holmes said that language is sacred, and wrote that its abuse should be as criminal as murder. He called it "...verbicide...violent treatment of a word with fatal results to its legitimate meaning..." America has yet to make "verbicide" a hanging offense. Indeed under the First Amendment guarantee of free speech, pretty much anything goes. There are some limits — Holmes' son was the Supreme Court justice who noted in a famous opinion that you cannot falsely shout fire in a crowded theater. That's because words have consequences and not just in politics."

I've been trying, and failing, since that day to put my response into words. In listening to the voices and rhetoric portrayed in this clip.. which I never had before, nor care to again... I was filled with mixed emotions, surprisingly none resembling anger, but more along the lines of grief and heartache.

The obstacle I faced in trying to articulate my message, I think, was in separating out the action and the alleged motivation from the underlying question concerning exercising one's freedom of speech.

Our beloved First Amendment.

Like all of our 'freedoms', I tend to believe they were secured with an assumption of an understanding of personal responsibility. That while these amendments grant us freedom as individuals, they still must be exercised within the context of the larger society. Just because you have the right to say something, doesn't always mean that you should. And just because there's no legal responsibility should you incite enough emotion in an already distraught human being with your words so that he opens fire in a crowded church, doesn't mean that there isn't cause to check in with your own conscience and sense of ethics to determine whether or not you are using your media platform responsibly.

We don't know how others will react to our words, even when offered with good intentions. Supportive and loving, or negative and hurtful, words are an extremely powerful vehicle... far beyond what we realize. And why is that? If we were to reflect even momentarily on how words have affected our own emotional state for good or ill, we might learn to be more conscious of what comes out of our mouths.

The day after viewing this video, I went to Meeting, hoping to get some clarity on what I could take away as a lesson from all this. Not surprisingly, most of the 'messages' delivered that day happened to echo sentiments of gratitude among several members for the Quaker way of silence and reflection. That Quakers believe in the presence of "that of God in everyone", and espouse the practice of looking within oneself in silence before opening one's mouth illustrates their understanding of the responsibility of consciously choosing words exchanged with our fellow human beings.

I am also reminded of the Eightfold Path in Buddhism: eight principles to live by for the cessation of suffering -- among them, "Right Speech".

Buddha defines right speech as:

1. to abstain from false speech, especially not to tell deliberate lies and not to speak deceitfully,
2. to abstain from slanderous speech and not to use words maliciously against others,
   
3. to abstain from harsh words that offend or hurt others, and
4. to abstain from idle chatter that lacks purpose or depth.
   

Positively phrased, this means to tell the truth, to speak friendly, warm, and gently and to talk only when necessary. (Thanks to thebigview.com for this excerpt.)

Referring back to Quaker Meeting that day, we had opened with a selected hymn which had given rise to the messages shared, entitled "Teach Me to Stop and Listen", written by Ken Medena.

"Teach me to stop and listen
Teach me to center down
Teach me the use of silence
Teach me where peace is found

Teach me to hear your calling
Teach me to search your word
Teach me to hear in silence
Things I have never heard."

Given that I have a voice, and a mouth, and a computer with internet capability, it has been no less a challenge for me to weigh my desire of whatever pops into my head against the wisdom of saying it... and to maintain constant vigilance over whether or not my words will reflect my greater intention of being a force for peace and a channel of grace in this world.

May god help me.

Big Mama

Where will SHE go? Suggestions?

Wawa in Downingtown, PA

Violence on My Behalf

Pulling up behind an SUV today, I was perplexed by a bumper sticker which read:

"We sleep peacefully in our beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on our behalf."

Wow. I mean, WOW.

Now, this is a quote, I was soon to discover, attributed to George Orwell. (There was some small dispute to that end as well, but that's another story.) Since reading this line, I've been trying to ascertain its intent. If Orwell was indeed the author, I can assume that its meaning may have been tinged with irony.

However, the original context in which I came across this message.. without attribution, but placed beneath another sticker which read: "Support Our President, Support Our Troops"... gave it a slightly different meaning, as you can imagine.

Either way, I think my emotional response would be the same. I do happen to sleep peacefully, blessedly peacefully, each night, knowing full well there are willing people doing violence; and unwilling people being killed as a result. I have been reminded through a variety of phrasings and admonitions that I should be grateful for my freedom earned through bloodshed.

What can I say to that?

Can I be sure that my way of life could have been gained through less violent means? Is there a way I can request for violence NOT to be done on my behalf, please? And be prepared for whatever may come as a result?

How, then, shall I read that quote.. as an accusation of ingratitude, or of complicity?

(My immediate response: leaving a small peace crane in the dish soap aisle of Wegman's, while I ponder this some more...)

Spectacular Sight

Last evening I was able to time my return from the beach with a visit to the unveiling of 1000+ paper peace cranes at Central Baptist Church in Wayne PA, for the beginning of Hiroshima/Nagasaki Memorial Week (August 3-10).

This event was timed along with their monthly "peace dinner' and vigil.. on this day, focused on preventing another war in Iran, and an even greater threat of nuclear holocaust, more deadly than that in Japan 64 years ago.

I, and three of my sons, were welcomed to a Japanese-themed meal, highlighted with messages of peace, hope and inclusion of all faiths from various members of CBC, and a video viewing of the story of Sadako. Of course, the highlight for me was the stunning display of the paper birds, hung around the MLK Commons... adorning the windows and the walls. The most impressive aspect was the two mobile-type hangings, on either side of the stained-glass window depicting 'swords beaten into plowshares'... the intention being to simulate the graceful flight of hundreds of cranes. Breathtaking. (And personally thrilling to know that many of my own little ones were soaring with their kin..)

And now, more photos:

Marshall Rosenberg

Though I've recommended his work a number of times over the last decade, I've never actually seen Marshall Rosenberg, founder of the Center for Nonviolent Communication, speak. Here is one of a number of videos being made available on youtube.. check it out, and search out more.

News from the Hatchery

A flock of these delicate bearers of peace has been born and is being prepared to set free to take part in a presentation coming in August during Hiroshima/Nagasaki Memorial Week.

They will be delivered tomorrow to begin the process of being hung in display. Pictured here are about 80.. I hope to reach my goal of 100 by the morning..

Updates to follow.