What can we do? Simple suggestions for change

[Melissa Ruhl]

Last Tuesday night after Obama’s victory speech I could not stop thinking about how I need to ask not what my country can do for me, but what I can do for my country. I am currently going through the study series and have felt increasingly discontent. I keep feeling myself thinking, ok, now what can I do? The messages of BW are so exciting and transformative that I want to give it to others. But I keep getting caught up in the question of how can I be an active member of the Beyond War movement in the democracy of the United States of America? At this time I also happened to be making some phone calls for our fundraiser and I talked to Steve Myles who told me about the Global Marshall Plan. This is an organization working actively to build infrastructure to help stop global warming and make it so that all societies can better work to save the environment. On their website they say, “Everyone is talking about the climate crisis. However, there is no time left to discuss: we have to act immediately.” The answer they gave, however, was not necessarily to give up your life and join the Global Marshall Plan cause, but rather to simply plant a tree.

In the latest study series session, Lois, one of the facilitators, told us that Martin, another facilitator who couldn’t be there that day, keeps all the politicians that represent him on his speed dial. When he reads something in the paper, when he sees something that needs to be changed, he gives his representative a call. Annetta, another study series participant, said she sends out an email to her reps in a similar fashion. They are both such simple concepts and do not take much time, but they let our government know what is important to its constituency. It is so easy to feel powerless. It is so easy to feel overwhelmed. However, there are so many simple things we can do to change the world. I am extremely concerned about the US/India nuclear trade deal that happened recently. Ok, so I should learn from my fellow members of BW and send a letter to one of my reps or start up a conversation with a stranger who I think might be interested in knowing about it.

I’m sure that there are many members of BW that have things they do to actively further the peace movement in our democracy similar to Steve, Martin and Annetta. Would you mind sharing with us? I think it is incredibly exciting to think about the simple things like shooting a quick call to my rep or writing a letter to the editor or whatever people might do. In this week’s study series reading, we read a statement from a 2001 celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Nobel Prize. Here is one of its sentences that really got me thinking: “The only hope for the future lies in co-operative international action, legitimized by democracy.” If we truly live in a democracy, then we should be able to make change in our government and its actions. Please, I welcome your suggestions on how to be an active democratic member of the peace movement. Thanks!

[Sally Suzanne Marie]

OK, here another quick and easy thing to add.
Hand written letters seem to be counted with much more weight than emails. Jot down short definitive points on a postcard and mail them in to your elected officials. The brief format helps you get your point across quickly and efficiently. And it uses a fraction of the paper and less postage to send in than a letter. Saves the time of opening the envelope on the other end too. The staffers in the offices talley up the responses they get on a variety of hot topics so the length of your comments matters less than what side of any particular issue you are on.
It might be time to try to start up a postcard writing campaign locally again.

[Sally Suzanne Marie]

Here's another one that requires more time and coordination.
Educate.
We would love to get many more young people involved and listening and learning about the Beyond War new way of living.
Getting started doing more Introductory sessions in the high schools and on campus and in the sororities and fraternities would be great.
I understand you may be working with 2 or 3 high school girls now???
You did a great job at the Intro you did with Phil Hanna at Willamette HS.
Would you be willing to do more of those???
Could you come to our monthly outreach committee meetings? (745am the second or third Tuesday of the month)