War, Peace and Flipping Coins

On Monday evening (Oct. 29), our IFPB delegation split up into small groups and spent the night with host families in the ancient walled city of Acco on the Mediterranean.  My travel roommate, Deklan, and I were staying with the family of Yosef a few blocks from the water.  We were joined by Laura and Art who were staying with Yosef’s brother, Ahmed, closer to the water.  The dinner conversation was lively, as we bantered back and forth about historical facts and comparative narratives of injustice and violence – present as well as historical – all around the world. 

After dinner, Deklan, Yosef and I went for a walk.  Deklan asked Yosef how he thinks things will unfold between the Palestinians and Israelis.  “War” was his calm, somewhat sad, answer.  For him it is clear that the only way to avoid war is to return to the 1967 borders but is not going to happen.  He was clear that he does not want war, but he just doesn’t see an alternative.   I reflected my own faith that where there are signs of hope, we can help lessen the violence.  Deklan’s stance was that the Israelis simply need to stop with the lows and policies that keep the Palestinians as second class (or worse) citizens.  It’s as easy as “flipping a coin”, he said. 

“War, Peace or a coin toss”, mused Yosef.  I am increasingly thinking that it is going to be some combination of all of these.  There is already violence – blatant as well as systemic – and to reverse these will take effort and certainly some luck. If, as Yosef said, there will be no peace until there is a return to the 1967 borders, there is no way there without the upheaval of at least 500,000 settlers, many of whom are not likely to go peacefully and will be backed by many Israelis.  At the same time, many Palestinians are not enamored with their own leadership, so even if the Palestinians were to gain autonomy, I would expect a battle for power from within as well.  And then, of course, there is the insidious systemic nature of violence, as evidenced y the US-supported military destruction followed by US-funded rebuilding.  It’s a great economic machine.  It’s a mess.

As I start to reflect on my time here, I don't see groups of people.  I see the faces of individual humans, many of whom are caught up in the daily challenge of human survival.  I am awed by the beauty and the passions in these individual struggles, while shuddering at our capacity to dehumanize each other to the point of annihilation in some cases.  There is Yosef, with his exasperation of  constant arrests and harassment for speaking out but also his friendly hospitality.  There is his wife, and her somewhat defensive and unnecessary statement that Palestinians just want to support life.  There is 23-year old Mahmoud’s spirit of hope for the future while including me in a Palestinian bachelor party with festive music and dancing.  There are the sincere desires and demonstrations of a commitment to find a peaceful way forward from the members of kibbutz communities.  There are Roi and Rwan, a Jew and a Palestinian (his grandparents came to Israel in the 1930's because of anti-semitism in one case and zionism in the other; her grandparents village was wiped out in 1948) working together to bring cross-cultural learning to Jewish and Arab schools as part of their work at the Arab-Jewish Community Center in Tel Aviv.  There are organizations creating new ways forward through theater and community outreach.  And then there are people who hate, fear, resent or wish to harm the neighbor they don’t know.   

I have hope that, if we stay connected and keep acting in ways that support the common humanity of each other through the upheavals, we can come back together as a stronger global community.  Just as I believe will happen in the US as we struggle with all our various prejudices and practices of injustice past and present, my hope is that our descendants can sit around the dinner table, sharing meals from all our faiths and cultures,  celebrate each other rather than try to lord over each other, and look to the past wondering "what the heck were they thinking?"  Yes, it’s ideal, but we can start practicing now so when the opportunity comes, we are ready.  As Whitney Young said “it’s better to prepare for the opportunity that may not come, then to have an opportunity emerge, and not be prepared.” 

Faith, Justice and Grace in Israel

The thankful heart sees the best part of every situation. It sees problems and weaknesses as opportunities, struggles as refining tools, and sinners as saints in progress (Francis Frangipane)


This is now my third day here in Jerusalem with Interfaith Peace Builders.  It has been an eye-opening experience to see and learn more about this amazing region of the world.  It has also not been an easy trip for me.  As so often seems to be the case, while I share the passions and concerns that the current state of things here is perpetuating immense harm on many Palestinians, I don't necessarily share in the sentiments expressed or the specifics of the calls to action.  There are stories of farmers being disconnected from their farms, and idle farms are then deemed vacated and taken by the government.  Because of limited movement, Palestinians cannot enter into parts of Jerusalem to argue their cases for land and home.  Institutionalized harrassment is pervasive.  On the other hand, I know that there must be more to the story. Good friends of mine talk about the importance of Israel in their lives, the bombings suffered by attacks.  I see people of deep faith - Muslims, Jews, and Christians - just going about their daily lives, some trying to co-exist, others just living.  The more I learn, here and see, the less certain I am about anything - sometimes by what is said, other times by what is not said.    I do know this: people are suffering from violence.  If things remain on the present course, there will be much more suffering. I know there is anger, hatred, hurt and mistrust of scary proportions.  From terms like "the Arabs want to eradicate Israel" to "my 10 year old nephew wants to kill all the Israeli soldiers", this goes deep.  I guess much of this is understandable, but a speaker we heard today spoke my mind when she said "All violence is unacceptable.  No buts".

So what is mine to do?  I don't know.  Will BDS (boycott/divestment/sanctions) promote peace and justice? Given that, as one person working against home-demolition stated, the Palestinians need to figure out what they want, I can't even venture an educated guess.  I hear too many opinions.  In my role as Clerk of a Quaker committee (where reaching consensus can be a black hole of time to little positive effect) and what I hear from folks, it's a tricky thing.   What I am seeing more clearly that mine is to stay committed to my belief (that has been backed up by experience) that there is God in all things, and mine is to joyfully keep seeking.  To be a bridge-builder.  I have a long way to go, but it seems to be what my leading.  I hope to return with some possible actions people can take that don't need consensus.  I hope to bring back a deeper appreciation of why Israel is so important to both secular and religious Jews.  Perhaps I can help to develop a Workcamp trip here to tour the holy sights, reflect on their meaning and role in lives and conflict, spend time on a kibbutz and at a Palestinian farm. Perhaps even help build a personal relationship or two across the divide, building on where some already exist.  Basically be in fellowship.  Nothing dramatic, but all with a clear vision of justice and harmony. 

I find it a challenge to give voice to this whilst among people who are clearly well-informed passionate activists, some of whom say "the facts are in, and the time for action is now", reflecting a sense of urgency that current trends are dooming much of the Palestinian community.  I don't disagree, although I am not sure that referring to doers of misdeeds as the "f#cking Israelis" helps.  I can't help but go back to where I place my bets: try to practice grace, dedicating myself to hearing what people have to say rather than demanding them to hear what I have to say.  Continually try to put my ego aside, soften the heart and not try to lord what I think needs done over other people, but still hardening my own resolve for a more just world.  I suspect many people think this is wishy-washy, but hopefully people who know me know that I am not shy about speaking my truth.  I wouldn't think a wishy-washy person can disagree as much as I do, but I try to do so in a way to really here another's truth, not deny theirs, seeking to understand rather than be understood.

The issues here are a mess.  There are signs of hope, such as the Palestinian farmer who responds to countless efforts to intimidate and take his farm with love and hospitality, or the woman at the kibbutz leading the Other Voice for Peace, but the hope is in their spirit, not their situation.  The least, and perhaps best, I can do is simply be that constant appreciative voice for hope, trusting that love may not prevent bad things, but can help make whatever happens do less harm.  It's a lot of work, much of it lonely, but seems to be my lot. 

Seeking Unity, Facilitating Harmony and Harmonizing

Friends often talk about how we seek unity on issues.  When there is not unity, what do we tend to do?  We talk about "seasoning", laying the issue aside for a while, continue to discern.  In many cases this is totally the thing to do, but what if the issues have broader implications - such as a minute or statement about how we think the world should be or some kind of action regarding issues beyond our congregation?  It's one thing to consider a minute of whether or not to perform a same-gender marriage or to take something under the care of the Meeting; while it may be unpleasant for many, it is about a group action in an enclosed group.  But when the issue at hand has to do the broader world around us, often people have strong feelings about either the issue or the action and want the whole body to follow-suit, the whole body might not do so for a number of reasons.  The desire for unity can be painful, as often a lack of unity is perceived as a lack of action, and people may feel compelled to support the called-for action because they feel intimidated, at times sensing that because they are not in unity they are somehow deficient in understanding the problem or they are simply tired and want to move on to something else.  For others, myself included, there is a discomfort that unity among ourselves can come across as exclusive - that somehow, because we have reached unity, this is how the world should be, and it doesn't matter what others - neighbors, friends, family, other congregations - think.

This past year I saw in the Quaker cyber-world the observation that Peace - perhaps the thing Quakers are most known for these days - is a dynamic relationship between justice and harmony.  Peace is what we strive for, and we all recognize that justice is necessary to achieving that peace.  It is often a drive for justice that is behind our calls to action or public statements.

What if, during those frequent times when we do not have unity, we try practicing harmony?  Consider the analogy of an orchestra conductor.  His/her role is to bring together the leading and talents of very different people, each with a leaning to very different kinds of instruments, and have them learn to listen to each other and play off each other while practicing their own particular piece.  They bring a peaceful experience to what could be an incredibly unpleasant experience.

Now, we Friends are not in a position to be actual conductors in most cases.  Humility should help keep the ego in check.  With the Prayer of St. Francis as a guide, we should recognize that we are simply instruments of Peace, but the whole Peace ensemble is much greater than us.  It is not ours to make everyone an instrument like us.   But we can be better practitioners of listening for harmony and learning to harmonize with others, appreciating the other instruments.  In those times when we don't have unity, perhaps we can learn to harmonize with each other.  It takes potential chaos and brings it to a more synchronized flow, but it doesn't try to make the violin a tuba.  As we learn to do this with each other, then perhaps we can be better practitioners of it in the even larger world where there are even less chances of unity.  It is a way to take our voices out and rather than feeling we need to shout down our neighbors, family and friends who do not agree with us, or feel we can't talk about things, we can learn to harmonize with them.  It's really about seeing the common humanity.  Isn't that really what we mean by "there is that of God in all" anyway?  

The Principle of Harmony: Grace in Action?

At a meeting recently, as we were going around the table giving personal updates, one of the people related that she recently got hooked on sports radio.  For years, she had ignored sports on principle.  Billions are spent in sports, and countless hours of human capital are spent on sports instead of things such as war, poverty and climate change.  Many sports are also violent (hockey, football and boxing), and at the college level, teenagers are exploited while academics often suffer.  In addition, there are the countless TV and radio hours of blather that has questionable social merit.  But her curiosity led to enjoying the chatter, and she was hooked.  What she reflected on was that it is this new-found knowledge of sports that is now the catalyst of her relationship with her father, who has alzheimers.  It gives them something they can talk about, despite a breakdown of communication capability.

It was her comment "I had to sacrifice my principles (of not giving any fiscal/human capital to sports) so that I could have a relationship with my dad" that really resonated with me.

For the past few months, as I have been clerking the Baltimore Yearly Meeting Peace and Social Concerns Committee and grappling with a minute connected to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, I read a quote that Peace is made up of Justice and Harmony.  Many of us are good at standing on the principle of Justice.  Many of us on the left are enamored with the idea that, as Quakers say, we "speak truth to power."  We often do so without any consideration for what others think.  We at times do this with arrogance, as if we know what The Truth is, and perhaps by pointing the finger at those who we claim to be in power we ignore our own power.  We become righteous victims, which can alienate us further from people who might align with us but don't like the action we are demanding.  We apply this to so many aspects of our life - from where we shop, to the car we drive, to the TV/radio programs we listen to - to almost every aspect of our lives.  All of this is standing on the principle of justice.

But what if we were to stand on the principle of harmony?  What if we really did not only consider what our neighbors think about social justice issues, but let their opinions influence what we do.  When I have mentioned the notion that Peace is made up of Justice and Harmony, the retort is often that it is important to take principled stands, and somehow justice would be sacrificed at the expense of harmony.  But the more I think about it, harmony is not just a principled stand but the more difficult of the two (justice being the other).  I am reminded of the opening lines of the 2011 movie The Tree of Life comparing nature and grace: "Grace doesn't try to please itself; it accepts being slighted; it accepts insults and injuries.  Nature only wants to please itself, get others to please it, and likes to lord it over them.  No one who loves the way of grace ever comes to a bad end."  Grace is that moment when we are at with one another, calling on us to put ego aside, and is the bedrock of unity.  Grace, essentially, is like unconditional love,  As is written in 1 Corinthians 13:13, "three things will last forever - faith, hope and love - and the greatest of these is love."

This, to me, does not mean that other principles get sacrificed.  I do believe that we can stand firmly on the principle of harmony but also stand firm for what we believe.  It is a challenge for people whose faith - religious or secular - is embedded deeply in social action.  Conversely, to be completely and solely standing on the principle of harmony is hard for me to even fathom.  I have way too many opinions about what can and should be done.  I do think, however, that it is worthwhile to consider not brushing harmony off as an impediment to principled action, but to instead start to see that harmony is a very principled position grounded in grace and love, and that it perhaps has more power than many of our other well-intended efforts to bring a true, sustainable peace to the world.  

What really is this spirit?

by Josh Wilson, Intern

I have recently been doing a lot of reflecting about the state of my own spiritual affairs. As a member of the William Penn House staff, I often interact with religious groups to which I previously did not. Now I must state before continuing this blog post, that I have tried everything in my power to believe in this god business. Religion itself has always been very interesting to me. I have seen its many benefits and its many faults and wanted to make it work in my own life, but have come to realize that feat is rather tricky. To me, most religious beliefs were often things people told themselves to help them face the grim facts reality so often presents. I could not for the life of me come to accept with my head that any of this nonsense could ever make sense to anyone.  While I could admit those who had such beliefs to be rational individuals, I just couldn’t believe it would work for me. 

In my initial journey through religious exploration in high school, I found myself in a Quaker meeting.  Upon discussing and thinking about Quaker beliefs and testimonies, I found that at least Quakerism might give me ground to explore religious belief with my head.  I have heard the Quakerism is less about a dogmatic faith and more about getting in touch with the spirit of the divine.

I find it greatly enriching to interact with groups as they come to the WPH for service trips and that, with or without faith, these groups certainly are able to work in the sense of spirit that so many declare as belonging to the divine. It brings me to wonder then... what really is this spirit? What is this sense of belonging that unites us to help our fellow human beings? What is it that allows us to empathize with those who are so greatly different from us?

These are topics I have been struggling with my entire life and I guess it wasn’t really until I recently had two experiences that I found a working model of an answer. The first was a trip I with the William Penn House to the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. There our group of fourteen was able to help a clan prepare for their family Sundance ceremony. In that process we were allowed to join them in a few of their ceremonial purification sweat lodges.

During that process I started realizing that there are some things in life you cannot approach with clear thinking. During my first Sundance experience I told myself that I would just “tough it out”. After sitting in the lodge for an hour, I realized that it was not so easily done. In my second experience, I joined the prayer songs that were going on and trusted with my heart that I would be able to make it through the whole experience. After singing with all those present, I found that it wasn’t so difficult and, in fact, it went much quicker than expected. It was through being around and engaging with the community through a shared experience that I grew close with a group I had never known and was able to make it through something difficult with the help of something much greater than myself.

The second experience was a conversation with one of our guests. As my shift was ending, a guest came in late and we began talking about her work. We then began talking about my job and my recent experiences with Pine Ridge. This forced the topic to religion and then to my awareness of my agnostic existence. We discussed mainly the communal nature of religions and my understanding that in Quaker meetings there is a sense of the personal and the communal, but that the spirit in Quaker meetings often transcends both in an interesting way.

For some reason this resonated immediately and made me think of our senses. I had heard someone speaking about how we take our senses for granted and think we only have five (sight, smell, taste, touch, hearing), but we really have more than that. The speaker said we also have a sense of balance, a method in which we gain information about the world that has absolutely nothing to do with any of the other senses. Another example is exteroception, how we understand the existence of spacial relationships in our “sphere” of being without seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, or tasting the intruding object. Ever close your eyes and then have someone walk close to you and you could feel their presence without using the above senses? That’s your sense of exteroception. My point in all this is that there are many senses that we take for granted but haven’t exactly pinpointed.

Scientifically, there is still much yet to be discovered concerning our health and our bodies. To me it seems that maybe we have another unknown sense. One that we can use to feel and understand more social or emotional connections with those around us, which changes our physical state through hormonal interactions when we engage this sense in different ways. To me it makes sense, when someone says something that is upsetting, it puts forth a series of hormonal interactions that lead to anger or another emotion.  After feeling these emotions for a long period of time, it can have a major effect on our bodies. So doesn’t it make sense that there are certain experiences that can affect this other sense? That by feeling the good nature of those around me, that other physical and psychological effects can then take place? 

It seems to me that this is a far more temporal understanding of what spirituality is... this other sense of what is around us, being part of a communal and spiritual whole. Knowing our place in the greater spectrum of things. To me this is a very rough understanding and maybe I am making something too complicated, but for some reason right now this explanation works for me.

Missing from the Healthcare debate...

In the spring of 2011, I fell off my bike and broke my arm.  No cast was needed, but I did have x-rays taken 3 times and had 3 office visits to confirm that my arm was broken and was healing.  I would have been fine with just getting the information after the first or second session, since I was not getting any treatment such as a cast.  Instead, my insurance got billed for almost $2000.

In the spring of 2012, I was experiencing some shoulder pain when I worked out, especially doing a few exercises.  I went back to the same arm guy, had x-rays, was told I have tendinitis, and was sent to physical therapy for 12 sessions.  The majority of the sessions consisted of using exercise equipment, doing stretching exercises and putting a heating pad on.  I could have just as easily done these at home or at the gym.  Each of these sessions was billed to my insurance at about $90/pop, and my out-of-pocket expenses were roughly 50%.  This doesn't include the initial assessment.  I am supposed to go back to the arm doc for a follow-up, but I don't want to pay anymore or have my health insurance plan have to pay any more just to be told I'm good.  

Both of these are examples of what I consider to be an aspect of our broken and costly healthcare system that is ignored but is perhaps an area that we could all agree on: while we do need a safety net for covering the basics and the vitals, there is a strong element in the system that over-prescribes and exploits minor ailments in order to "feed the beast."  In this system, we the consumer are often not very informed about things, and blindly do what we are told.  I'm no exception.  I did just what the doctor ordered.  But here's how I would like it to have gone, and perhaps would like to see it go in the future: a frank discussion about the diagnosis, and then a more thorough look at options.  For example, I would have been fine with the initial doctor saying I have tendinitis, and getting a recommendation to meet with a physical therapist to learn about exercises and a bit more about tendinitis.  After that, it's up to me.  I'm in my 50's, am not a lefty (except when I eat).  I can live with tendinitis; I have had shin splints since high school, and have learned to accommodate.  I broke my knee, and have arthritis there, but still do ok.  I can handle this.  It was really not necessary to have the system milk me and my insurance.

This is one of the fundamental problems that I think also needs to be addressed, and I think that universal healthcare is one way to bring it forward.  There are others, but we don't seem to use them.  I did question some orders for blood tests from an MD once, stating I didn't want to pay for them since I wasn't really willing to do the treatment.  Drove him nuts, but I think we need to move to a serious conversation not just about comprehensive healthcare but also informed consumerism.  My priority is to get my HIV treatment.  Beyond that, I'll live with the aches and pains.  If I have something I need a diagnosis and perhaps some recommendations, I'd like that as well.  It's the unnecessary and costly visits that trouble me, but that's what you get when you have people whose livelihood is dependent on people having maladies.  I think that if we are to have a sustainable system, we need to become equal partners with our physicians and insurance companies, not just pegs moved around for financial gain.

Kindness and Appreciation

I just returned from a week-long Workcamp in McDowell County, West Virginia with students from Sidwell Friends School and Upshur Helping Hands from Buckhannon, WV.  These trips are always energizing, exhausting, hopeful and discouraging.  The kids are great and give a sense of hope for the future.  We do great work, but there are always the questions of "In what ways are we breaking the cycle?" and "How do we translate the experiences of service in other communities to making a difference in our own backyard?"  In this part of WV (coal country) there are few jobs available with little on the horizon; there is limited access to the basics - food, healthcare, education - so the opportunities to get out are limited.  Drug addiction is a huge problem - perhaps an even bigger problem than anything else. But there is also a beauty and a sense of belonging to the place that keeps people there and draws others there such as ourselves.  In addition, because it is coal country and we rely on coal to keep energy affordable, we are connected.  This area bears the consequences of our thirst for energy.  So in the mix of all this, we do have opportunities to explore individual and societal patterns and perhaps explore how we can learn things in a place like McDowell County that can be of benefit to that county as well as in our own backyard. What I find is that that it is rarely in the actual service that these opportunities emerge, but in the conversations as we spend time together.

This past week, the theme of Kindness and Appreciation emerged.  Here's how it came about:
We were helping a woman by nailing down her porch stairs.  After we finished and returned to our own project next door (building a porch roof), one of the kids who helped asked if we were thanked for our work.  I stated that yes, we were, but also questioned "should that matter?"  Rather than do something so that we are thanked, is it not ok to be thankful for the opportunity to be of service?  It was an "off-the-cuff" response, but seemed to resonate with both the student and with me.  For many, making sure to thank people is a golden rule - so much so that at times, the thanks seem more driven by obligation than appreciation.  I do believe that it is best when there is time taken to express appreciation, but when it is not forthcoming, does that mean we don't help the person?  Does that mean they don't appreciate our efforts?  To truly be of service, it is without expectation.  In fact, the most spiritually important service we can provide might be the kind of service that is not appreciated or even noticed.
The thing is, because we are human, it is not so easy to put our egos aside.  This can leave an empty feeling if we keep the need for appreciation externally-focused.  What we can do is practice a deep sense of appreciation for the opportunity to be of service and, in our act of service, we are serving not just another person but also a higher purpose - God, community, environment - take your pick.  If nothing else, the world is a better place.  By bringing appreciation to these interactions, we bring greater appreciation to the world.

This is where kindness fits in.  The more we can practice little acts of kindness - anything from holding a door open for someone, stopping to pet a dog, picking up a piece of litter - I have found that the heart softens and the ego-need lessens.
It really is simply said: if we want more appreciation in the world, we can practice greater appreciation.  If we want more kindness in the world, we have to practice more kindness.
These multi-day Workcamps - whether they are in DC, West Virginia, South Dakota, New Orleans, or Kenya - are opportunities to practice this through service, building community, worship sharing/reflection and simply becoming more conscious.  It is when we can use these "away" experiences to enhance our proficiency as well as energize our spirit in our daily lives, that I believe we are truly on the way to global transformation towards greater peace.