 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Six
weeks after Ground Zero's twenty first anniversary celebration and concluding
action at Sub Base Bangor, we gathered at GZ for a visioning retreat.
What now? In August we had explored the depth of Ground Zero's existence.
The vital signs indicated life and wellness. We are in good sync
with the "movement" to end nuclear war. The historical roots of non-violent
--------------------------------
We have a journey to make before
we can rest...we are a link to the next generation of peacemakers.
---------------------------
resistance continue to nourish the
trunk and branches throughout the world.
We looked at each other. Elizabeth
Roberts, Stephen Augustine, Jackie Hudson, Brian Watson, Tricia Sullivan,
Sue Ablao, and Bernie Meyer spent an evening and a day processing our experiences.
We felt good about the August event...very good. We felt daunted
about the task ahead. We were in good |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
company,
but we have a journey to make before we can rest. More than likely,
we are a link to the next generation of peacemakers.
The image of drops of water dripping
on a rock, the wear of ages, came to mind. Stephen brought in chaos
theory. Fractal geometry replicating patterns throughout the universe.
Chaos made whole. What image in the face of Trident's first strike
threat? What "NO" makes life in the face of threatening total
destruction? In May, 1997, Dan Berrigan invoked the image of
Israelites banished in exile. He used an ancient exilic hidden ember symbol,
like liquid mud in a cave waiting to be transformed and rekindled.
His meditation occurred at the Plowshares Festival of Hope in Maine.
Faith gives vision in sights unseen.
We all want to see the day that the
Bangor Submarine Base becomes one park with Ground Zero!
The retreat continued... Familiar words
emerged on the flip chart: spiritual transformation, community, faithful-ness,
fully human, nuclear resis- |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
tance,
social justice issues, public witness, non-violence. We know that
we need to educate far and wide about nuclear weapons and Trident.
We know that we cannot let ourselves tire of acting at the gates.
We know that we need to keep the issue before the people....until "the
people" come to dance at the gates like the chosen people at the walls
of Jericho.
In the end, our retreat provided the
intention to renovate Ground Zero as a center for non-violent action.
Buildings, grounds, programs would be generated as a statement of
life in the face of death. With the hundreds of friends of Ground
Zero, and net- worked around the world, we trust the unseen vision.
Ì
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
to
assist interned Japanese Americans in camps in Idaho.
After the United States dropped atomic
bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Schmoe went to Japan to help rebuild homes.
Leading a group of 25 volunteers, he made five trips over five years.
When Schmoe and Cufley met earlier
this month, they sat together holding |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
hands
on a bench at the Seattle Peace Park. The park was built by Schmoe
when he was 95, on a small patch of land on the north end of Lake Union.
Schmoe autographed a copy of the novel
"Dove," and presented it to Cufley.
"He is a big inspiration for me," Cufley
said. "He has definitely affected the world." Ì
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cont.
from p.2
College in Walla
Walla, spent most of the summer of her sophomore year in rural Paraguay
as a public worker for the aid group, "Amigos de las Americas."
The next summer was spent in Mexico.
"I learned about people in a different culture and a different way to be
happy. You don't need material things."
These are lessons Floyd Schmoe, 102,
has known forever.
A sixth-generation Quaker, Schmoe drove
an ambulance on the battlefields of France in WW I. During WW II
he helped to evacuate European Jews and shipped food to war victims, then
quit his forestry-teaching job at the U. of Washington |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This
material is excerpted from the Tuesday, June 23, 1998 Seattle Times, article
by Nancy Montgomery of the Seattle Times Snohomish County Bureau.
The picture and article were sent to GZ by Glen Milner. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
