A soldier of conscience

Now that the presentation at the peace and justice conference at Marquette is finished I feel tired and renewed. The presentation went well and our efforts to stop the military bases located on Marquette‘s campus were supported by the participants, peace and justice persons from all over the country. If only the local Marquette University Center for Peacemaking supported us as well. Rejection at home since be part of presenting our message: Marquette Be Faithful to the Gospel and No Long Host the Army Navy/Marines and Air Force military bases on campus. The efforts put in the presentation and to highlight the military training Marquette Hosts leave me tired.

I went to a presentation today from three women from Northeastern University in Chicago where they conducted a successful effort to stop their university from being a host school for the military and to be a partner school only. It was inspiring to see this systematic effort to defeat the militarization of their school. One of the women was a lawyer who gave us hope that the Solomon Act that forces universities to offer recruiting and ROTC programs would eventually be overturned on the 1st Amendment rights of the Constitution. She said that the recruiting part of the law will stand, but that forcing a program contrary to a school’s principles and values is against the 1st Amendment rights of the University. First amendment freedom of speech gives schools the right to limit what is taught on campus. This would mean the type of “reflexive killing” that the movie “Soldiers of Conscience” shows happening in military classes on campus could be restricted, since it violates the Catholic social values that Marquette is founded on.

Tonight will be our first very cold night. I went around the gardens picking vegetables and bringing in potted plants. I was too late for the basil. Yesterday it was okay today it is dead.

If only we could demilitarize our schools as easily as we tend to the garden. Nature, if left alone, always survives and renews itself. But humans need laws to do the right thing and training to kill. When one is tired but renewed, as I am tonight, one longs to go back to nature. Just let it be.

Comments

(:commentboxchrono:)