A friend and I returned today from a Catholic Worker Resistance Retreat in the Chicago area. Three days of being with people close to the values of nature and the Holy One, people who live their values uncompromised is inspiring. Spending time with these persons action was like feeling a fresh breeze blowing on a warm night. These persons, young and old, children and adults, of various ethnic backgrounds and religions, male and female, farmers and urban dwellers can truly say “We are the ones we are looking for.” They are the Salad bowl friends that I frequently have spoken of.
This unity and support of persons was especially needed when one of the presenters, Chris Hedges, gave his realistic but scary view of the fall of the great militaristic empire of the United States. Mr. Hedges article, “We Stand on the Cusp of one of Humanity’s Most Dangerous Moments” is thefeatured article on the www.nonviolentcow.org. Like this article Mr. Hedges presented a bleak picture but left us pieces of a survival strategy for the times, like throwing cogs of resistance in the militarist machine or building sustainable communities to preserve our culture and values during these tough times.
One of Dorothy Day’s granddaughters was present and in a conversation after the presentation asked how we bear the burden of living in solidarity with all the suffering, death and depression in the world. I asked her, in return, “What would Dorothy Do”, or how would she keep going with her awareness of the dark side of life; her reply was ‘prayer’. We all mean different things by ‘prayer’ — formal prayers, meditation, silent awareness, but we all need the essence of prayer, dependence on Holy One, God or higher power.
I was frequently reminded of the words and actions of Peter Maurin, the co-founder with Dorothy Day of the Catholic Worker movement. Peter had a vision of sustainable communities where farmers, workers and scholars come together for the ‘common good’.
The more I reflect on this weekend, and how we need the cogs of nonviolence, resistance, nonviolent action to slow down militarism, at the same time we must build sustainable communities to Grow Renewable Affordable Food and live in solidarity with persons in need all over the world.
More reflection, especially when I am not so tired as I am now, is needed on bringing these two forces together, resistance, the ‘nonviolent’ side of this web site, with growing power, the cow or worm side. Only by managing the sides of life as one, nonviolent and cow, can we hope for the future.
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