I have recently been posting on the Spirituality board about my experiences with modern-day Quakers, or "Friends" as they like to call themselves.
I wanted to share with you how I discovered the Quakers. In this election year in the U.S., political signs are all over the place. One day I noticed one that was unusual on the main street running through my neighborhood.
It was a yard sign that said "War is Not the Answer" with a picture of a dove holding an olive branch.
I drove past this sign day after day, and every time I passed it, it reached me more profoundly. And the day came when I just had to stop and take a closer look. That's when I saw that the sign was produced by a Quaker organization that has existed 60 years (
Friends Committee on National Legislation - A Quaker Lobby in the Public Interest).
When I looked this organization up on-line, I learned that this group (which is coordinated by a General Committee of 220 Quakers) is a public-interest lobby (not a PAC or a special interest lobby) which is the oldest ecumenical lobby in Washington, D.C. and played a role in the establishment of the Peace Corps, among many other accomplishments.
Although I knew the Quakers believed in Peace, I had no idea that the Quakers have been so involved in the modern-day peace movement. When you begin to study the Quakers, you realize what a profound impact they have had on our world from day one in the 1600's, always standing up for human rights even in the most adverse of circumstances. Their founder George Fox, for example, spoke out against the torture and killing so widely used in the church of the 1600's (talk about human rights violations!), and the founder's wife Margaret was one of the first voices for women's rights (as it existed in the 1600's).
And now in the political climate of the world today, the Quakers are asking us to continue to value human rights and focus on establishing more strategic methods to enable peaceful conflict resolution. We invest a great deal of money in war (treating the symptoms of the world's problems) without investing much in methods for resolving conflicts peacefully (treating the causes of the world's problems).
I think the Quakers are conveying a beautiful, meaningful and powerful message in this critical time in a way that can reach out to people of many political persuasions, and I just wanted to share it with you. If you are curious, all you need to do is search for "War is Not the Answer" online.
I now have a new sign in my yard (and a bumper sticker on my car), and let me tell you that I am not generally a "politically active" person - this year is the FIRST time I have ever put up ANY yard sign or ANY even remotely politically-oriented bumper sticker. But the Quakers have inspired me to do this very small thing as my small part of just about the most important movement in the world, Peace on Earth.
After all, does anyone truly think that War is the Answer?
Peace and Love,
BridgeBuilder