Pope Leo called for peace in his remarks on Easter Sunday and reiterated them again in response to President Trump’s threat that a ‘whole civilization might die tonight,’ made the morning of Tuesday, April 7th.
How do we respond on a day like this, when mass destruction of human life is tossed around so flagrantly?
We say: show your love for life in whatever manner feels compelling and urgent.
We’ve already heard that individuals are gathering on the Ashland Plaza this afternoon to speak out.
We also know that some of us are flooding the lines of the White House – (202) 456-1111 – before 5pm ET.
Some of us are showing up to continue feeding our neighbors, like we will be today at Uncle Food’s Diner, and advocating for their right to exist in public, later today at Ashland City Council.
Some of us will figure out how to provide aid to those already harmed and displaced.
Some of us will finally take the step to stop funding war, this week before Tax Day, joining the War Tax Resisters League and others in refusing to hand over our money to systems of endless bloodshed.
Some of us will gather and process and plan with those closest to us to figure out what kind of action we’ve been too scared to take before and finally step to take it.
Some of us will sit in quiet and allow the anxiety and fear of what’s happening to move through our bodies until we better discern the right course of action—engaging in an active preparing, in this moment when the next right move can be so hard to see.
Whatever form of action calls to you, we say: do it. Act for peace.
Whatever you do, don’t let this be the day you turned away from the harm this nation is willing to cause in the world. Don’t let it be the day you chose to ignore the truth of suffering.
Today is a scary and horrific day, and how it will unfold is uncertain and may lead to terrible loss. But we cannot begin to prevent this and future atrocities if we will not sit with the reality of suffering and let that move us to act, in whatever way is available to us.
So we say again, whatever form of action calls to you: do it.
Today, when so-called leaders act only for war, let the people act for peace.
