11-12 September 2001 // Peacemakers
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10:30 p.m. now...
I left work and went to United Blood Services, taking surface streets rather than going through the Big-I because it's quicker even with the construction. Thinking back, i'm amazed how little traffic there was. Downtown Albuquerque was practically deserted - most of the buildings, including the federal buildings, were closed. UBS was, of course, quite busy. So busy, in fact, that they already had as many donors as they could handle today and were starting a waiting list - and encouraging people to come back tomorrow, when they'll be prepared for more of a crowd. They start tomorrow morning at 8. I will be there.
So... I decided to go to the ecumenical service at Civic Plaza. I finally got it through my shell-shocked brain what "ecumenical" tends to imply: cross-denominational, cross-faith, inclusive... a far cry from the "fundamentalist" doctrine that would have made me sick to my stomach. Besides, others from New Life were going to be there, Ken C. had even sent me email to let me know about it... and I don't think these people like that stuff any more than I do.
Parking wasn't the problem I'd feared. It wasn't a problem at all - as I said, Downtown was pretty deserted. There were probably a couple hundred people there, and representatives from a wide variety of religions - Christian (including many Presbyterians), Jewish, and Muslim... and at least one closet "Eclectic Agnostic Pagan" as Chenoa called me *g*. The service was organized by the NM Conference of Churches (which is why I also received an email from Julian, whom I've been helping with their web site), and was led mostly by, as Ken put it, the "mainline liberal bigwigs". There were several photographers and at least one tv news crew (I saw us later on channel 7 as we were having dinner).
The service was wonderful. A small pick-up choir sang a song with text from Isaiah about how God (I hear, Goddess) does not abandon, does not forget us. One man read a passage from Ecclesiastes, in Hebrew and in English, that originally came out of the despair following the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, and was painfully close to our hearts today. A brave, beautiful Arab woman spoke poignantly about how this has shocked and saddened her people, as well, and urged us not to blame the religion of Islam, not to hate the entire Arab community for the actions of extremists. She was greeted with a heartfelt round of applause. A woman canted a beautiful psalm in Hebrew and in English. We prayed for peace, for healing, for safety, for courage, for justice, and again for peace, over and over. At the end, the choir sang a song which I was surprised and delighted to hear - we'd sung it in the Women's Chorus - a South African protest song, as I recall:
O God give us powerThey repeated the song after the benediction, and this time everyone was singing along strongly, some holding hands, some clapping, many of us with tears streaming down our faces (as I had been the whole service). One photographer got pictures of me during that song, and afterward she asked me for my name and if I'd like to give a quote... I was quite incoherent. -_-;; Uh. I suppose I should pick up a paper in the morning and find out what I said.
to rip down prisons
O God give us power
to lift the people
O God give us courage
to withstand hatred
O God give us courage
not to be bitter
O God give us power
and make us fearless
O God give us power
because we need it
I found Ken C. as they were doing introductions at the beginning, and stood with him during the service. Just his presence is very comforting... tall and solid, but soft enough to give wonderful hugs, and very kind. He had his arm around my shoulders much of the time, comforting me. Afterwards we met up with his partner, Doug, and several of their friends from their drumming circle, as well as others from New Life. I saw a few other people I knew, including Carol, the lead singer of a wonderful local rock group, which I think has unfortunately broken up. She looked wonderful, though, and she remembered me (if not my name), and I remembered her. :)
Ken and Doug and I, and several of their drumming circle friends, then went to Saggio's for dinner. If one good thing came out of today, it's that I found a sandwich to rival "The Martha" from Martha's Black Dog Coffee House in Socorro (one of the things I truly miss about not being at Tech)... prosciutto on focaccia... mmm.
As I drove to dinner, I listened to the reaction to President Bush's press conference on 770 KOB. The line about making "no distinction between terrorists and those who harbor them" disturbs me greatly. I realized then that the rhetoric I really didn't want to hear - wasn't ready to deal with - was the rhetoric of revenge. This attack is being compared to Pearl Harbor in terms of magnitude and surprise... and after Pearl Harbor, the United States put many Japanese-Americans into concentration camps, we bombed Japan with the most horrifying destructive weapons humans have ever built... I just pray that we won't commit such atrocities again in retaliation. If we do, we lower ourselves to the level of the terrorists. We need to be better than that. Somehow... I don't know how. We need to show the respect for human life that the terrorists do not. All human life, not just the lives of our own citizens. We need to become peacemakers, out of love and respect for the sacredness of all creation, not out of a perceived need to control. I heard so much anger, so much hatred, in the voices of the callers to 770, even in the voice of the president himself, that I really am afraid this is the beginning of World War III - the beginning of the end. I think we will survive (in the list of possible retaliation methods, I did not hear the word "nuclear"), but at what cost?
I remembered why I don't like to listen to talk radio, especially 770. I couldn't stand to hear any more - I turned it off.
O God give us courage
to withstand hatred
O God give us courage
not to be bitter
Last week, Trudy gave me a letter telling about her decision to join the Zen Peacemaker Order. I read through all the information she sent, and was moved by the beauty of it. Brightest blessings, Trudy... we need you, and others like you, more than ever now.
O God give us power
and make us fearless
O God give us power
because we need it
12:50 a.m. now... I'm going to sleep.
recent alterations //
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