I was sitting in my office in the Chapel at Hood College in Frederick, Maryland, in meditation, a daily practice. I heard someone come down the stairs and stand outside my office door, apparently reading posts on the bulletin board. Since the person stood there for some time, I interrupted my meditation to open the door and see who it was and what they might need.
It was a young man from the Lisle Fellowship, an organization that offers inter-cultural and inter-national experiences all over the globe. I was intrigued, so I invited him home to have lunch with me. I discovered he was at Hood to try and recruit students for a future three-week trip to India. After lunch, I told my wife I was going to India.
That began my introduction to an ancient and unforgettable country and culture, and the work of a famous and legendary person, Mahatma Gandhi. Those first three weeks were spent in communities all across the country where the spirit and work of Gandhi was still very much alive. I sat next to those who had accompanied him in his work and witness. I learned about an alternative to violence. I discovered a person who put into practice what I believed was implicit in the Christian faith. And that first experience of India led me to return again and again, usually with several others I recruited, to experience the still living spirit and work of Gandhi, alive among his followers.
My India experience opened my eyes to the work of nonviolence in my own country. The Civil Rights Movement and the work and witness of Martin Luther King, Jr., enlisted my support and demonstrated the power of an alternative to violence. Peace Brigades International appeared in my worldview and offered a way of working in an international organization for the peaceful resolution of conflict. In PBI there were people willing to put themselves in harm’s way, to inhibit violence against the vulnerable. I found their witness to be very Christlike.
Eventually these experiences led me to the creation of a non-profit dedicated to providing others with an experience of nonviolent communities in other cultures and countries, or to personal training in creative nonviolence in schools and colleges. That work continues in different ways, and will continue, until my last breath.
So perhaps you can understand why I am troubled by a president who changes the name of the Defense Department to the War Department. Or perhaps you can understand why I am upset that the U.S. Institute for Peace is currently in litigation to see if it will survive this administration, after it was raided by DOGE, funding turned over to the General Services Administration (including $15 million in donations) and all of the board members (except administration appointees) terminated and all employees fired.
Perhaps you can understand why Im troubled that we now have billions more for the War Department and less for hungry children; billions more for deporting people of color and less for everyones health care; the militarization of city streets instead of federal support for community policing and development; the promise of weapons in space as we witness the deterioration of environmental needs on earth.
And then there is the closest, most personal example of violence; violence against the nations children. How many young girls were there, used and abused by the moneyed and predatory? We are only now beginning to recognize the numbers, through the courage of those who have come forward.
And when will we receive the rest of the Epstein files with the names of the predators? Ive written our senators, asking if they are in the files, since they are so reluctant to make sure they are released.
Since the president has decided to cement the Rose Garden to provide an outdoor area for his friends to drink and dine, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California has renamed it the Predator Patio. In my eyes, all those politicians unable to support the release of all the Epstein files, are suspect. Why else, other than cowardice, would they object?
There are examples throughout human history where people have chosen the way of nonviolence. Sometimes one person has shown the way. Other times huge movements have changed the course of history. It happens!
And in this time, with the potential danger of violence dangling over all our heads, as the powerful bluster and bully their way into a fragile future, we should remember this saying of Gandhi: A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history. It has happened before. It can happen again!
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