Safe Place Network

Safe Place and Shalom

jimmy — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 00:43:44 +0000

The biblical vision of shalom, we believe, is God’s dream for the world. God desires a world that is safe for everyone, a place of peace and justice and healing, a place where no one would harm another, a place where the love of God would be experienced as compassion and generosity. Empathy, respect, trust, humility, gentleness, forgiveness – all of this and more are part of the vision of shalom. And God’s desire is for all people to live together in community in this spirit of shalom.

A shalom community would challenge the spirit of domination in this world and call people to work for justice and peace. It would stand against war and violence of any kind, teaching people how to nonviolently resist “the powers that be” to stand with the poor, vulnerable, and oppressed people of this world. It would challenge the economic, military, political, and religious systems of our time that create an increasing disparity between the rich and the poor. It would stand against intolerance, arrogance, hatred, abuse and everything else that causes harm to people who often cannot stand up for themselves.

Anyone whose heart and soul agrees with this vision and wants to be part of a community committed to making the vision a reality in our world would be welcome to participate in the life of the community. Email me and tell me of your interest.

Stop the President!

jimmy — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 22:19:03 +0000

Who will stop President Bush from destroying the future? Bush wants billions more for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan while ratcheting up the rhetoric against Iran and moving ships and troops into place for a possible war with that nation. Meanwhile the President wants to make permanent the tax cuts that mostly benefit the rich while trying to balance the national budget by reducing “domestic spending”–specifically by cutting funds to help the poor, the elderly, children, and people who cannot survive without such help.

The troops need our support, President Bush says, as he asks for billions more in “defense” spending. The troops, however, increasingly say it’s time for them to come home. Bush says our help in Iraq is not “open-ended.” Most Iraqis say they want our help ended now by leaving their country.

Most people who publicly write and speak about international matters say that attacking Iran would be foolish. But even Senator Hillary Clinton, speaking to a Jewish audience Friday, said nothing should be “taken off the table” in considering options for stopping Iran from becoming a nuclear power. How is that any different than Bush’s position?

Who will stop the President? Who will turn the course of the raging river of war, arrogance, and greed we are caught in today?

What Would Gandhi Do?

jimmy — Sat, 09 Sep 2006 21:19:13 +0000

Susan Price of Penfield, New York, wrote the following column for the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, published 9/8/06. You can access it on her website.
Those in power right now tell us that war is the answer. To shrink back from military intervention is “appeasement.” To stop fighting is to “cut and run.” If you don’t want to bomb, you must favor doing nothing. Justice requires an eye for an eye.

But wait. Didn’t Gandhi teach us a strategy of nonviolence – a high-spirited, activist strategy that drove England out of India and that inspired the U.S. civil rights movement?

To remind myself of how nonviolence works I visited with Arun Gandhi, founder and president of the MK Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence and a resident of Brighton NY. Arun was born under apartheid in South Africa, suffered severe color prejudice, and, as a rage-filled teenager, was sent to live in India with his grandfather Mahatma Gandhi. For 18 months, the elder Gandhi took Arun under his wing.

My conversations with Arun showed me how superficial my understanding of nonviolence was. Nonviolence is not about burying your anger while the bullies get the best of you. It’s not about diverting anger into sports. It isn’t passive or withdrawn or isolationist.

Anger is like electricity, Arun’s grandfather said. It can cause devastating destruction or it can light cities. Without anger, he said, “we would not be motivated to rise to any challenge. Anger is an energy that compels us to define what is right and wrong, good and bad, just and unjust.” At his grandfather’s side, Arun learned that the essence of nonviolence is to bring about better relationships between the oppressed and the oppressor through five elements: love, respect, understanding, acceptance and appreciation. And he learned that “an eye for an eye only makes the whole world blind.”

Arun witnessed how his grandfather turned this personal wisdom into political action. Nonviolence is not about turning the other cheek; it’s about turning enemies into friends.

But, as always, leadership is key. It’s easy to send bombers. That isn’t courage. What takes courage, imagination and charisma is making so many friends that the true evil-doers don’t have a leg left to stand on. “Hatred needs fuel,” Arun told me. As more people band together in friendship, the power of evil evaporates. The bad guys must skulk away.

Right now our leaders in Washington don’t have the courage or the talent to engage in dialogue with anyone they find offensive. And of course, neither do the members of radical Islamist movements. Without a framework for dialogue and recognition of our interdependence, Arun ponders: “Where will it end? We are allowing terrorists to set the agenda. How many people will have to die in order to ‘win’?”

September 11, 2006, is the five-year anniversary of the monstrous act that has spawned only mayhem. But it is also the centenary of Mohandas Gandhi’s first nonviolence campaign in South Africa. Our choice that day: we can celebrate vengeance or we can join Arun Gandhi in celebrating the power of nonviolence to bring about astonishing political change and social transformation.