Peace
Yesterday our UU church had a peace vigil as part of world peace day. I was in a foul mood because of the long day, little sleep, expectation to play, a week of no riding because I’ve been getting over a cold, and not nearly enough to eat for the day. So this account of the vigil is certainly coated with an unforgiving edge, but here goes.
I got there early to set up the sound system. I found folks setting out luminary candles and snacks and getting the list of speakers together. I was going to sing 6 songs and lead the group in four of them. I didn’t want to be there as a ‘performer/entertainer’. It turns out that I wasn’t there and didn’t perform in a monkey’s paw type of quantum physics moment (does that shit work?), but more on that later.
With every car that showed up I sighed just a little. Nobody used human power to get there, and even folks who lived within 2 blocks drove their cars. Then someone put Peter, Paul & Mary on, and while Puff the Magic Dragon wafted over the church grounds I thought what a lazy people we are. We can’t stand the silence, can’t stand the exercise. It was such a cliché of an event and there was no urgency. The participants wanted entertainment – this reading here, this song here, this poem there. As far as I can tell, there was no room for reflection. There was certainly no call for personal action. No call to handwrite letters, no call to use less, conserve, to get out the vote, to write to soldiers, to sacrifice on any level. Just the ‘peace is good, we need peace, pray for peace’. And lots of pretty candles on a beautiful late summer night. Meanwhile the bloodbath goes on and on in a land far removed from us, unseen and sanitized.
Before the first song I got a call from my son. He had broken his ankle in a skateboarding accident, he thought, and my neighbors had taken him to the emergency room. These are neighbors I’ve discovered while riding my bicycle, and knowing your neighbors has its advantages, that’s for sure. Three folks from the church offered to drive me to my house, 3 miles away, but I was on the bicycle, home, into my car and at the emergency room within 20 minutes. You can go fast when you’re appropriately stoked. His ankle was not as bad as it sounded (or looked). He’s definitely okay, attending his school homecoming dance as I write this.
On the bicycle ride to the house, adrenaline pumping, I thought about what an old girlfriend (hey, it happened, okay?) told me a couple of years ago after I had gone off on a rant about something or someone. She said that the world is full of young souls, all trying to find their way, and that I should be gentle with my thoughts of them. That to someone else I was a young soul. I ended up thinking that if even one person showed to protest this insane military action, it was worth it. A sobering thought.
I heard later that only a few dozen showed up at the vigil. I expected more, but the reality is this: In Kentucky, the right side of history is the wrong side of ‘now’.
Today was World Carfree Day. I spent the day driving my son to the doctor and school and work on an extremely tight schedule. Not an inch on the bicycle today. Karma?
I got there early to set up the sound system. I found folks setting out luminary candles and snacks and getting the list of speakers together. I was going to sing 6 songs and lead the group in four of them. I didn’t want to be there as a ‘performer/entertainer’. It turns out that I wasn’t there and didn’t perform in a monkey’s paw type of quantum physics moment (does that shit work?), but more on that later.
With every car that showed up I sighed just a little. Nobody used human power to get there, and even folks who lived within 2 blocks drove their cars. Then someone put Peter, Paul & Mary on, and while Puff the Magic Dragon wafted over the church grounds I thought what a lazy people we are. We can’t stand the silence, can’t stand the exercise. It was such a cliché of an event and there was no urgency. The participants wanted entertainment – this reading here, this song here, this poem there. As far as I can tell, there was no room for reflection. There was certainly no call for personal action. No call to handwrite letters, no call to use less, conserve, to get out the vote, to write to soldiers, to sacrifice on any level. Just the ‘peace is good, we need peace, pray for peace’. And lots of pretty candles on a beautiful late summer night. Meanwhile the bloodbath goes on and on in a land far removed from us, unseen and sanitized.
Before the first song I got a call from my son. He had broken his ankle in a skateboarding accident, he thought, and my neighbors had taken him to the emergency room. These are neighbors I’ve discovered while riding my bicycle, and knowing your neighbors has its advantages, that’s for sure. Three folks from the church offered to drive me to my house, 3 miles away, but I was on the bicycle, home, into my car and at the emergency room within 20 minutes. You can go fast when you’re appropriately stoked. His ankle was not as bad as it sounded (or looked). He’s definitely okay, attending his school homecoming dance as I write this.
On the bicycle ride to the house, adrenaline pumping, I thought about what an old girlfriend (hey, it happened, okay?) told me a couple of years ago after I had gone off on a rant about something or someone. She said that the world is full of young souls, all trying to find their way, and that I should be gentle with my thoughts of them. That to someone else I was a young soul. I ended up thinking that if even one person showed to protest this insane military action, it was worth it. A sobering thought.
I heard later that only a few dozen showed up at the vigil. I expected more, but the reality is this: In Kentucky, the right side of history is the wrong side of ‘now’.
Today was World Carfree Day. I spent the day driving my son to the doctor and school and work on an extremely tight schedule. Not an inch on the bicycle today. Karma?
posted by Woodog at 10:51 PM
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