What if we in America limited all our family and relative gift giving to one, relatively inexpensive gift per person? Then what if we took the approximate savings (in the billions of dollars) and sent it to, say, Nigeria, where scores of little children are starving to death every day? How we in America sing Joy to the World with a straight face — in the midst of so much potentially, relievable worldwide human suffering — is absolutely amazing. Note: During a campaign talk at the Bluffton Senior Center a few years back, one man asked: “So, you’re campaign is about asking people to sacrifice?” I said “yes.” What’s more, I told the Ashland Times that we should actually ‘declare war’ on poverty and social injustice.
12/19/06
For the last week I’ve been working on a position paper about: terrorism. And I start the paper with an overarching lens through which I believe we should view our contribution to the world of terrorism. The late Thomas Merton, who was a monk and a well known author, wrote that hatred of ourselves is often too deep and too powerful to be consciously faced. So we minimize our “sins,” and exaggerate the faults of others… The enemy’s bombs are always from Hell. Our bombs are always from “Divine Providence.” And speaking of bombs: “What if we let the weapons inspectors into Montana?” I posed to an ABC News reporter out of Toledo, Ohio? The point being that we’re hyper-concerned with North Korea, Iran and other “rogue” nations developing nuclear weapons — while we have 10,000 nuclear warheads aimed all over the world! Why wouldn’t the countries those warheads are aimed at consider us “a potential terrorist threat?” I mean, c’mmon.
12/11/06
I mentioned in an earlier post that my daughter Sarah is reading the book: 25 Simple Things Kids Can Do to Save Energy. She recently read me: “If you replace just one regular bulb with a compact fluorescent bulb, you will save as much energy over a lifetime of the bulb — as you’d get from burning 600 pounds of coal. Shortly after, I went out and bought a package of six compact fluorescent bulbs. If you do the math, our household is saving 3,600 pounds of coal with these babies. Not bad for 8 bucks. Note: For more on our environmental position…
12/9/06
I attended a talk at the Cleveland Catholic Worker House last night on Human Trafficking (Slavery in the 21st Century). The presenter, Sherry Watts, said a staggering 2 to 3 million people are “trafficked” every year in the world. They are often trafficked into hard labor or commercial sex jobs, either in their own country or they are transported to foreign countries. In the U.S., Ms. Watts pointed out that people are often trafficked into agricultural jobs (farm labor, processing plants, and so on.) People are abducted, or coerced, into these jobs — then given no way out. While in some Third World countries, because of extreme abject poverty, parents will actually sell some of their children to traffickers — so other children in the family don’t starve. Among some of the groups working to end human trafficking: Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, The Emancipation Network… Note: Ms. Watts is also a consultant, organizational developer and mediator for her business: The WATTS Connection, www.thewattsconnection.com
12/4/06
I gave a talk to the Sacred Heart Church Social Justice Committee in Oberlin, Ohio, this last week. Sacred Heart is one of 10 churches in Lorain County to sign onto the Intefaith Hospitality Network to help the homeless. I said our family had signed on too, metaphorically, by moving to the inner city of Cleveland to help. After the talk, a reporter from the Chronicle Telegram asked me more about this. I said we’ve set aside a “Christ Room” (Catholic Worker phrase) in our place to periodically help the homeless. Comical note: While stumping in downtown Oberlin, a woman noted the signage on our van, which in part reads: Back Road to the Whitehouse Tour. “Are you coming to my house?” She asked. Her name: Laura Whitehouse.
12/2/04
I gave a talk on Finding Common Ground in Politics at the Oberlin, Ohio, “Peace Potluck” tonight. During the Q & A period, people from the audience talked about their protests at the School of the Americas, their work to end the death penalty, their support of Christian Peacekeeper Teams… The energy to live out their faith was not only palpable, it was inspiring. When the subject of Iraq came up, Ed Horner suggested we follow the “Truth and Reconciliation” initiative that was so successful in South Africa in bringing about a peaceful end to Apartheid. Churches around the world twinned with churches in South Africa to provide humanitarian aid and to set up groups to teach about reconcilliation and forgiveness. It worked.
11/27/06
My daughter Sarah, 11, is reading: 25 Simple Things Kids Can Do To Save Energy (Earth Works Press). She read to me today that if every homeowner in the U.S. cut back their thermostat 6 degrees, we would save 570,000 barrels of oil a day. We’ve cut our heat back at home to 62 degrees, for Sarah’s generation’s sake. I recently told the Chronicle Telegram newspaper that I don’t want our children inheriting a world of global warming. Quip: How do “KEEP OFF THE GRASS” signs get there?
11/23/06
Thanksgiving Day: Last night our family went to a drop-in center for the homeless in Cleveland. While there, I met with Carl Cook who is the director of Project Save. It is an agency made up of former homeless people who now help those on the streets of Cleveland. Cook was homeless. He now directs the program, regularly speaks in schools and helps with a youth mentoring group. As I talked with him last night, I couldn’t help but think of the mythology of the phoenix: “Out of the ashes…” ‘Ohiocana’: A friend of mine, Paul Kapczuk, ran in Cleveland’s 25th annual, five-mile Turkey Trot. The numbers of his finishing time weren’t of particular note to Paul, however his race number was: 1620. The year, he pointed out, that the pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. “Of all the numbers to get this day…,” Paul smiled.
11/19/06
Our family attended a prayer vigil/protest at an inner city church in Cleveland today. The protest is against the “School of the Americas” in Ft. Benning, Georgia, where it is purported that military from around the world are trained in abduction and torture techniques. The speaker was a man from Chile who was a political prisoner in that country in the 1970s. He said he was regularly tortured. He also said if it wasn’t for Amnesty International, he doubted he would have been released. Note: A couple years ago, I interviewed a Catholic high school teacher in Ocala, Florida, who was starting an Amnesty International Club at his school to raise student awareness about international atrocity.
11/18/06
I campaigned in Twinsburg, Ohio, today, passing out flyers, talking to people. One man said he lived in nearby Remindersville, Ohio. I told him to ‘remind’ everyone there that I was running. (Sorry.) ‘Ohiocana’ Note: Remindersville is reported to be the smallest village in Ohio.