Civil Disobedience
American Friends Service Committee is perhaps the best example we have today of this American tradition. The American Friends strive to do right without regard to the consequences they face. As they seeks out truth in America and the around the world, they organize good works to assuage those actions that harm our fellow human-beings here and abroad. Not being utopians they are authentic in words and deeds. With terra firma as their footing, they are ready to do what they can to make the moment better for people as they work intellectually to inspire us to use peace and compassion as our focus in life. This reflective truth is spoken to the powerful daily. The results of this changing of minds and hearts is one that makes a difference in life to those touched.
Eyes Wide Open Exhibit that is touring America is a wonderful example of people touching others and bringing the all too real stories of those who are killed and maimed in war alive for us to see and feel. One sees war, any war, as a waste of human life without any social or moral purpose. The exhibit's use of the shoes of those killed in the still burning Iraqi War of Occupation allows us to reflect on the living friends and families of the dead and the dead of all nations drawn into this mistake through fear, ignorance and avarice. The shoes of course are a basic necessity for the living to be able to seek out food, water and shelter. One cannot survive for long in the world without shoes. These shoes serve us by showing us that the dead of this war can cause us to take actions in our daily lives that not only bring peace by helping to stop war, but bring peace by changing our hearts and minds in our daily lives through redemptive reflection, speaking truth to power and non-violent action. Thus the shoes allow us a metaphorical means to gain the basic necessity of peace and compassion in our own lives
Civil Disobedience that brings out the human being in us to do right without regard to the consequences we face is truly an American virtue and an historical necessity that invigorates our people. With our eyes wide open and our heads held high we can walk together hand in hand in a better way and a better life.
