Losing control
by Janet Chisholm

The atmosphere is suffocating. It reeks of aggression, virility, hatred, muscle-flexing, and too much testosterone. Now it's the World Trade Center just across the Hudson --- explosions and sickening clouds of debris and smoke, and the killing of innocents. Now it's an echo to settle the score: U.S. apologists and strategists and tough-talking media; bombs dropping, villages invaded, unscrupulous allies enlisted, innocents killed. More louder-than-life attempts to control. Yet it is like the teachers I have seen yelling and hitting children, all the while commanding children to cease yelling and hitting! Violence begetting violence.

We in the peace and justice community are tempted to fight back with protests, demands, angry words, and new policies. "Listen to us," we say. "There are nonviolent alternatives. Call on us! We, too, mourn the dead and condemn the terrorist attacks. We, too, want action now!" We write statements, hold vigils and marches, petition politicians, offer papers on international justice and nation-building and nonviolent tactics. We explain root causes and offer pragmatic reasons to try diplomacy, relief operations, and nation-building. We are working hard to respond quickly and effectively. Yet there are times when we are like a car trapped in the mud, gunning the motor as if it will resolve the situation. We, too, want some control, want to feel safe and secure.

What can we do?

It is a time for caring. We are traumatized, mourning, and stressed. The advice to caregivers of children may be good for us all: Reduce media exposure and increase social times with real, live people, especially with friends and family. Exercise; seek activity, fun and laughter. Nurture one another, hug, and express affection. Share feelings. Find physical, emotional and spiritual outlets. Be gentle with one another.

It is a time for asking questions. What gives us security? Why do people in other countries hate the U.S.? What do we know about Islam? What gives rise to terrorism? Is this really about protecting oil? What are the nonviolent alternatives to bombing? We can reflect and dialogue with others wherever we are. We can "cross boundaries" to hear from people of different cultures, faiths, neighborhoods, and political perspectives. We can listen compassionately.

Yes, it is a time for the public witness we know how to organize: through protests, teach-ins, study circles, peace walks, letters to the editor, petitions. We can hold weekly candlelight vigils in our towns to give courage to others who oppose war and may eventually join us. We can ask Muslims and Arab Americans how we can be supportive.

It is a time to build a people's movement for a more participatory democracy. The government will not lead us into a nonviolent world. Nor will the military, the economists or the politicians. The people will. We can widen the circle beyond the traditional peace community.

It is a time for patience and persistence, a kairos moment, a time of maximum opportunity to plant and water the seeds of active nonviolence. Quick fixes are not the history of nonviolence. Successful campaigns have required years of preparation, struggle, discipline and suffering before they gradually win the support of more and more people.

It is time to deepen our personal understanding of active nonviolence as a message of our faith tradition. Nonviolence is a spiritual practice. All of us have been schooled in violence and have memorized the violence script. Could we offer experiential retreats in active nonviolence to faith congregations across the country? Would small groups commit themselves for the long haul to prayer and reflection, to mutual support, to exploring the meaning of active nonviolence, and to ongoing action for peace and justice? We need a Formation Process that can help us over a period of time loosen old skins, learn new scripts, and create new selves deeply grounded in the philosophy and vision of active nonviolence.

Homeland Security will come only through creating a Home for all people, a place of safety ---- of sharing and caring --- where everyone's basic needs are met and each person is valued and supported. We are called to be Homemakers, creators of a welcoming space for everyone --- nurturing, collaborative, empowering. The way Home is the way of nonviolence, a way Gandhi described as "the desire for, and action on behalf of, the well-being of all."

We have lost control. The search for security is a spiritual challenge, a test of our faith in God's love. It is not about finding military, economic or political solutions. "If God is for us, who is against us? ¹ Who will separate us from the love of God? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ¹For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God...." (Romans 8:31-9)

Janet Chisolm is vice chair of the Episcopal Peace Fellowship.