Non-Violence Journal

November, 2004

Today in my comfortable apartment in White Rock, NM,
I proclaim a day of mourning.

I weep for Marines in Iraq, waiting to attack Falujah, while they remember their fallen
comrades, singing “Amazing Grace”, crowded into a meeting place in spite of their commanders
desire not to have too many of them together for fear of attack. They speak of “getting the job
done and getting home”, but some will die, and those who do go home will carry with them the
terrible scars of war.

I weep for the Iraqis who have died (30,000 the last estimate I heard). For the “liberated”
people who live in a war zone, where their women and children are not safe. I weep for
the great libraries of Baghdad that were not protected.

I weep for the prisoners, who were not charged,
but were tortured, building hate and leaving scars that will never be healed.

I weep for their families who have and will suffer with them. I weep for their torturers, young
men and women who were told the Geneva Convention protections for prisoners did not
apply, and to “take off the gloves” and “soften up the prisoners”. I weep for them because
not only was our country shamed by their actions, but they and their families will also be
haunted by those terrible acts for the rest of their lives.

I weep for the policies of our country which have raised up thousands of new terrorists,
willing to die for their “righteous” cause. I weep for the young terrorists themselves who
believe that by sacrificing their bodies they will reach Allah’s home and be honored there.

I weep for the genocide in the Sudan, for the homeless here, for the thousands dying of
aids in Africa and all over the world. I weep for the policies of our government when it turns its
back on justice and mercy, further enriching the rich and impoverising the poor.

I weep for the spirit of violence in my beloved country, which does not read the lesson of Israel
and Palestine—that terrorism that is fought with bombs and war, never ends. I weep there is
no well thought through, multi­pronged strategy for dealing with root causes of terrorism,
for supporting justice in the world, for seeking peace. I weep that we do not yet know that war
creates the conditions for more war. It does not bring peace.

Today I weep for the Christians of this country (my own people, who believe they are following
Jesus, as I do). I do not join them in the belief that morality can be legislated, or that democracy
can be set up in countries of our choosing and in our way. They have moved away from their
Master, who never called on the secular state to do what only heart work can do.

I weep for those brothers and sisters of mine because they appear blind to the
larger issues of justice, mercy and love. They seem to be willing to use any means
to accomplish their ends—making the world like them.

The question is asked, “Are there no peacemakers left?” No peacemakers left in this our beloved
country? No, it can’t be true. Above all there is a God of peace, justice, mercy and love.

In this God I rest, as I grieve.

By Linda Lane Gage, 2004