Dick Bernard Venturing

Monday evening before Thanksgiving 2006 the phone rang at my home, and a man introduced himself to me, and said he’d like to share with me a proposal about bringing the troops home from Iraq.

He sounded sincere, and I agreed to meet with him the next morning at Resource Center of the Americas.

Jesus Hurtado was his name, and when I got to the Resource Center, I met him: a neatly dressed articulate gentleman with a very noticeable Spanish accent.

He gave me his proposal (short form accessible here; and longer form here). I read it later, and it is a proposal not unlike millions of other proposals we have variously formulated in our heads: ideas about disengaging from an awful and unproductive conflict.

A few days ago I posted (below) comments about a memorable meeting Nov 21 with a man, Jesus Hurtado, who had participated in the 1989 Hunger Strike at the Cathedral of St. Paul.

Dec 3, we had a small (6 people) but excellent meeting with the man, Jesus Hurtado. It included one other of the other 1989 Hunger Strikers, Jerry Rau, and we had a rich discussion.

We agreed to reconvene on January 17, 2007, at St. Joan of Arc.

Jesus provided the Hunger Strikers Summary of their 19 day Strike at the St. Paul Cathedral. It is accessible here.

There are lessons to be learned from the 1989 Strike which apply directly to today’s Peace Movement. There is a serious need to take a new look at tactics and strategies to achieve attention toward Peace in this century.

“I now believe that the potential destructiveness of modern weapons totally rules out the possibility of war ever again achieving a negative good. If we assume that mankind has a right to survive, then we must find an alternative to war and destruction. In our day of space vehicles and guided ballistic missiles, the choice is either nonviolence or nonexistence.”

Martin Luther King Jr, in Strength to Love, 1963

Coincidence brought the Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers to invite Cindy Sheehan to address Minnesota-area peace advocates on January 30, and then, two months later, to learn about and strongly endorse the 10th annual international Season for Nonviolence. The Season begins on January 30, the anniversary of the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi (1948), and ends on April 4, the anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr (1968).

The two ideas came from separate individuals, at separate times.

I can think of no better coincidence than Cindy speaking here on the very day the Season for Nonviolence begins. In the ultimate (and tragic) irony, Cindy’s son, Casey, was killed in Iraq on April 4, 2004, which is the last day of the Season, and the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jrs death in Memphis..

April 1, 2007

Paul Loeb came with a dose of inspiration on March 19, and the over 100 of us who came likely left with a bit more hope that despite sometimes depressing thoughts, and unmet expectations, about the fruits of our labors, we are making a difference.

As he talked, I kept thinking of Faith Kidder. More on that in a moment.

Loeb, nationally known speaker and author (Soul of a Citizen: The Impossible Will Take a Little While) told stories of people who made a big difference without even intending to.

Take Rosa Parks...and Martin Luther King, for instance. Everyone knows their role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Civil Rights movement. Loeb did not focus on them, however. Why did Rosa Parks finally take action, and who got Rosa Parks involved, he asked? At the time she refused to give up her seat, she was apparently secretary of the local NAACP, and it was apparently her husband who had gotten her interested in involvement with the NAACP. And who got Rosa Parks husband involved, Paul asked? At this point, that's a key, but unanswered, and probably unanswerable question.

As for MLK: just by chance he happened to be a new pastor in town at the time the bus boycott began, and was pressed into leadership, probably against his better judgement at the time. He didn't rush into leadership; he was called to leadership. (King's feeling at the time, in his own words, is quoted in my posting in this space for January 29, 2007, Cindy Sheehan and Season for Nonviolence).

Loeb mentioned a number of other examples: some people of prominence, others we've never heard of, who against all odds made a difference.

And I kept thinking of Faith Kidder.

Without Faith's vision and persistence, we would not have had the opportunity to hear Paul Loeb on March 19. She had seen an essay of his that she really liked, and found his website
http://www.paulloeb.org , and while browsing the site noticed that Loeb had a small opening in his schedule between two midwest engagements. Faith, being Faith, decided to go for it, and lobbied a skeptical Paul Loeb until he was convinced that she, working strictly as an individual, could actually pull together an event worth his time and effort. From his telling, it was several weeks before he decided to take the risk and commit to a program sponsored by an individual he didn't know, who couldn't guarantee much of anything. His reluctance made a lot of sense. Faith didn't quit. I think Paul was glad he came to Minneapolis for the unplanned engagement.

I hardly know Faith, but I know her well enough from other events she's organized to know that when she sets out to do something, she quietly and persistently and effectively gets it done.

So...Paul Loeb spoke to over 100 of us on March 19. He's the one in the photo. But the one who really deserves the credit is the person out of sight in the background, who invested most of the effort, and stayed out of the spotlight, Faith Kidder.

The heroes in this movement, Faith and many others, are and will almost without question be the unsung ones...mostly invisible in the background doing what needs to be done. They may never truly realize the difference that they're making, or made, but they certainly do make all the difference, and they're all around us.

Thanks, Faith, for making what seemed impossible, possible, giving we casual bystanders an inspirational evening March 19.