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"Quakers: still here, still for PEACE"
By judithfetterley on 2008-12-09 17:21:05
I have a bumper sticker on my car that reads, "Quakers: still here, still for PEACE." So often when I tell people Iam a
Quaker, they respond, "I thought they were all dead!" So I like bumping people's consciousness a bit on the subject of the
continuing existence of Quakers.
Usually I put the emphasis on "here" when I tell about my bumper sticker. This weekend I found reason for placing the
emphasis on "still." I spent the weekend at Pendle Hill, the Quaker retreat center near Philadelphia, Pa., where I participated
in a workshop on the Quaker peace testimony. The title of the workshop was "Claiming Your Peace Testimony" and the
emphasis was on how each of us understands this testimony and how we live it out. I found it amazing and eye-opening to
be among so many people who define themselves as engaged in peace work. And I found it energizing to focus on the
progress we have made on the path to peace and what we have accomplished. All too often I find myself in environments
where the idea of peace is treated as "pie in the sky" thinking and where the fundamental mood is one of hopelessness where
war and violence are concerned.
I learned one fact I did not know before. I had always assumed that the American Friends Service Committee, along with
the British Friends Service Council, had been given the Nobel Peace Prize in 1947 for their relief and reconstruction work in
post-war Europe. In fact, the AFSC and the BFSC accepted the award on behalf of all Quakers worldwide in recognition
of 300 years of Quaker peace work. (The Nobel Peace Prize committee had wanted to present the award to Quakers in
general for some time but could not figure out how to do that, given the diffuse nature of Quaker organization. The AFSC
and BFSC were recognizable as Quaker organizations.)
As we pondered this fact and our own status as recipients to some degree of the Nobel Peace Prize, we looked at the
varieties of Quaker peace making over the years. We noted Quaker work in humanitarian relief -- feeding the hungry,
providing medical supplies. We noted work for human rights, particularly on behalf of marginalized people. We noted a
long history of mediation, arbitration, negotiation; of working for disarmament; of supporting the establishment of
international organizations designed to provide an alternative to violence. And we noted the work of peace research and
education, such as the "Alternatives to Violence Program." I share this list of what we came up with because I think it's
important that we document and focus on the work of peace that has been and is being done, that is still here. WAW has
lobbied the Times Union to establish a "peace beat" -- that is, to assign a reporter to cover the peace work being done in our
area and in the nation and world. So often we are told that the work of peace has no story or that the story it has is not one
people want to read about or hear. We disagree with this position and think a "peace beat" would provide stories of great
interest. My brief list gives some idea of the multiple entry points for such a "beat." Of course, our blog is a version of a
"peace beat" supported by the TU and we appreciate that, but it would be great to see the TU take this further step. Who
knows, they might even win a prize for it!!
Truth is, we have made a lot of progress on the path to peace. Trouble is, we haven't yet made this the top story in our paper
or in our culture.
