Jim's Peacemaking

In support of Cindy Sheehan we held a candlelight vigil in Princeton to pray for a quick and peaceful end to the war in Iraq on 8/17. We ended up sharing quite a bit. Below are two of the sharings and a photo. Here you see the prayer vigil. It was comprised of a variety of folks which included starting left to right in yellow,a farmers wife, a farmer, a Orthodox priest,a filmmaker, Kim a nursing instructor,me, a social worker, and Emily a college student. Emily Gorenz a Senior in college wrote: During June and July I worked in Washington D.C with high school aged students. As part of this we visited the Naval Base at Annapolis, MD. During our first trip the Naval officer announced that we would be shown a video “to get us energized and our blood pumping.”. The film was officially designed to ‘pump up’ new recruits at the Naval Academy. . The following is my recollection of what was shown to us that day: Slow, moving, orchestral music emanated from the speakers as footage played of the...

Pedro Membreno a close friend from our sister community Valle Nuevo in El Salvador a few weeks ago spend several hundred dollars extra to stop and visit us and friends in Chicago on his way to DC from El Salvador. I was humbled that he thought a visit here was that important to spend his hard earned money that way. We collected some money to help with his travel, and he mentioned that he would be sending the money to his wife who was left without any cash because they needed all the cash they had to show immigration. In the picture above on the left is Pedro Membreno out with the strawberry picking crew I manage one morning of his visit. Our farm had a bumper crop this year. I am the one wearing the suspenders. In one time of sharing Pedro mentioned, “Our one son has been drinking and it was causing a lot of worry and anxiety for my wife Angelina. We learned from the church that it was important for families to pray together daily, and since the children were little we have done that....

The following is another part of Hope magazine's John Wilson's (JW) interview of Colman McCarthy (CM), July/August 2003. His comments on Peacemaking I found challenging and insightful. I hope you do too. Peace to you today, Jim In 1985, McCarthy and his wife, May, established the Center for Teaching Peace, a Washington- based nonprofit that helps schools begin or expand academic programs in conflict resolution and peace studies. Today, he teaches classes at three universities and three high schools. JW: What can we do for peace? CM: . Few of us will ever be called on to do great things, but all of us can do small things in a great way.. It’s a sad reality that so many of our heralded peacemakers were wretches at home. Gandhi was vindictive to his wife and sons, as was Tolstoy. Martin Luther was a pathetic husband. Einstein was emotionally cruel to his wives. Yet, look at Harry Truman. He idolized his wife and was the model family man. Then he dropped the bombs on Hiroshima and ...