Make Levees - Not War
Saturday, 13 January 2007 19:00
More Bumper Sticker Mojo: Make Levees, Not War
January 14, 2007
Readings
We open with two passages from prophets, men who stood in a long line of prophets. These are
messages that focus on the SPIRIT -- the substance, vitality, and shaping – behind and
formative to: nonviolence.
Gandhi said, “Nonviolence is the law of the human race and is infinitely greater than and
superior to brute force. In the last resort nonviolence does not avail to those who do not
possess a living faith in the God of Love.”
Martin Luther King said, “Nonviolence is absolute commitment to the way of love. Love is not
emotional bash; it is not empty sentimentalism. It is the active outpouring of one's whole being
into the being of another.”
Prayer, Rev. William B. Sinkford
I invite you to open your hearts and minds in the spirit of meditation and prayer.
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Spirit of life and of love, God of many names:
We take time now to re-connect with the joy and the pain; the love and the hate; the hope and
the despair that bind us together as one human family.
We grieve for those who have died – and for their families, friends, and love ones. May those
who live on find solace and support.
We grieve for those injured and their loved ones. May they find healing and strength.
We grieve also our own failure to prevent such suffering; to prevent this violence between
nations. We grieve the continuing loss of precious life.
Therefore we pray for those who remain in harm’s way: American and Iraqi, military and civilian,
Sunni and Shia alike. May they find safety and hope.
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We pray for the leaders and people of Iraq. May they find peaceful means to end this conflict,
may they reach common ground.
And we pray for our nation’s leaders and for ourselves. May we have the courage and
conviction to honestly engage the difficult questions; to speak hard truths, to accept our
responsibility to each other and the world. May we find the strength and vision to end the cycles
of violence.
May it be so.
Amen.
More Bumper Sticker Mojo: Make Levees, Not War Rev. Jim VanderWeele
I appreciate a good bumper sticker. I spend a lot of time, too much time, in the driver’s seat. I
find it hard to avoid these adhesive-backed strips of paper. A favorite pickup truck says,
“Another man against violence against women.” I truly enjoy this one, though it raises a
question, “Did he put it on by himself, or was he coerced?”
And then I wonder, how would “Another man against violence against women” appear? if it were
placed beside a sticker that says, “Well behaved women rarely make history?” Both bring a
smile to me, but each has its own point of view.
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Our message today will look at: Make levees, not war.
This sticker arrived over a year ago, when we were flooded with protests about flooding:
including a proposal for a single levee board, a law suit against the Corps of Engineers, and
story after story about problems with the levees. …There was a rising tide of protest to poorly
designed levees.
This bumper sticker addressed a need for better levees, at least that is what I thought.
At that time, my attention was on our concerns with New Orleans. I was paying little attention to
the war in Iraq. “Make levees!!!” was our cry. Yes it was… “And build them bigger, better, and
stronger…” “Don’t ever let that happen again.” “Take care of Louisiana!” “Please, take care of
Louisiana!”
* * *
However, there is also the “not war” side of “Make levees, not war.” And I now hear the pleas for
relief from war, out of the Middle East and from people here, most of whom believe they are free
from any personal fear of a local war, though they may be concerned about a relative in service.
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The mojo in this sticker is that its focus on levees embraced a concern about war. There is a
reason for this. If we truly wish to turn our focus toward our own citizens, to build better levees,
to protect the many who were not blessed with wealth, the thousands who left with two days of
clothes, only to find out they lost their homes, we must recognize that a large portion of our
federal budget goes to the Department of Defense, and understand that this amount has risen,
not fallen, during this war in Iraq.
The mojo beneath the message on this sticker is: if there are only so many dollars in our budget
– more spent there will mean less available here.
This is one reason, what I would call a practical reason, for “no war.” Another practical reason is
that people die in war. To this point in time, 2500 American soldiers and 48,000 Iraqis have
died, and I do not condone these deaths, on our side or theirs.
* * *
But there is also a principle that addresses the very idea of war and warfare: nonviolence.
Before investigating it, I must share that this was once an important part of my personal
zeitgeist. I was a college student in Chicago in 1968, a year when there were protests against
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the War in Viet Nam. At that time, I embraced and supported nonviolence.
During the Democratic Party convention, many met in Lincoln Park for an anti-war protest. I
joined them. I felt it was the right place for me to be. But during the course of the day, I became
concerned about this protest to the war. Mayor Daly had sent police to surround the park, and
these officers were not pleasant and welcoming toward the protesters, so some in the park
began to slide dog droppings into old McDonald’s bags – preparing to throw them at the cops.
I lived in Chicago. I knew the Chicago police. I knew how they would react to doggy do being
hurled in their direction. I argued with several of the other long-haired throng that this should be
a nonviolent protest, that they should empty their bags. They laughed at me.
One of the lists to which I subscribe comes from “The Dean of Peace,” Dean Van Leuven. He is
a man who by-passed the chance to play pro football so he could become an Air Force Captain,
an Aircraft Commander, and a Procedures Writer for the Aerospace Industry. He said “Fighting
against war is not peace. It is just another kind of war. It is impossible to be peaceful when we
are fighting for anything. If we are going to have peace the first thing we must learn is to stop
fighting, even for good stuff like peace. The very fight itself produces a lack of peace.”
On that day in Chicago, I left the park. I went home. I watched the proceedings on TV.
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* * *
I grew in my commitment to nonviolence after I met Martin Luther King Jr. when he spoke at
Central College of Iowa. My girlfriend was a babysitter for the professor who offered home
housing and it was in his living room that I shook the hand of the man who I knew had said, “It is
no longer a choice, my friends, between violence and nonviolence. It is either nonviolence or
nonexistence.”
Many years later, I lived in the Washington, DC area. On the 11th of September, 2001, the
plane that hit the Pentagon flew over my place of residence, and another plane – that many
expect was headed for the White House – would have also flown directly overhead.
While I certainly wish for each of you to exercise the right of your own opinion (the right of the
pew) my uncertainty with nonviolence grew from my recollections of September 11th (yes, I was
weak in the faith) and this, more than anything else, affected my willingness to speak out about
nonviolence (in our tradition of the right of the pulpit) when the war in Iraq began.
* * *
Now, it would be easy to look at the question of our commitment of troops in Iraq, because this
has been in the news this week. But our task, your task, in this religious community, is to hear
the ideas of your minister as he explores the underlying message beneath this principle of
nonviolence.
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In my view, peace is internal. It originates in our hearts, and when we are peaceful within, it
leads us toward peace with others. At its optimum, this becomes nonviolence toward all.
Rev. Bill Sinkford said, “Lao-Tzu reminds us that peace in the world must begin with peace in
our hearts. His insight holds a key for us all. By looking inward we may see clearly the complex
truths of our lives and our histories. We may then commit ourselves to the spiritual practice of
waging peace—in our hearts, at home, in our congregations and communities, and in our
world.”
King said, “When we have learned to be at peace with ourselves and those around us then we
will be able to create peace in the world. As long as there is power in the belief we can impose
our way on others or solve our differences through force we cannot be peaceful. The more of us
who achieve peace, the more peace we will have. Learn peace – teach peace – and we will
have peace.”
Gandhi put it this way, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”
Don Miguel Ruiz wrote, “Fear leads to anger, jealousy, and greed.” And, “If you live without fear,
if you love, there is no place for these emotions.”
You see, when fear is lost, the need for aggressive response is also lost. Might this be why we
say, “We are all family & We all have value?” Can you see how love flows into and through such
a message to our world?
Let us turn again to the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.’s words: “President Kennedy said on
one occasion, ‘Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind.’ The world
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must hear this. I pray to God that America will hear this before it is too late, because today we’re
fighting a war… It is no longer a choice, my friends, between violence and nonviolence. It is
either nonviolence or nonexistence.”
I do not have: “Make Levees not War” on my car, but I will soon add two new stickers. One will
say, “Love > Fear” and the other: “When the Power of Love Overcomes the Love of Power, The
World Will Know Peace.” And should, in the next few years, anyone ask about the attitude of
your minister toward war, please know that I have recommitted myself to the power of love and
to the principle of nonviolence.
And each of you now knows more about my views, just as each of you may have your own
views on this principle of nonviolence.
May the love in my heart meet the love in yours. Namaste.
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