Abou ben Adam
Abou ben Adam (may his tribe increase!)
awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight of his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
an angel, writing in a book of of gold.
Exceeding peace had made Ben Adam bold,
And to the Prescence in the room he said:
"What writest thou?" The vision raised its head,
And, with a look made of all sweet accord,
Answered, "The names of those who love the Lord."
"And is mine one?"said Abou, "Nay, not so,"
Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low,
But cheerily still, and said, "I pray thee, then,
Write me as one who loves his fellow men."
The angel wrote, and vanished. The next night
It came again, with a great awakening light,
And showed the names whom love of God had blest,
And lo! Ben adam's name led all the rest.
- Leigh Hunt
Island Women go to Washington DC
By Peggy Sue McRae from sanjuanislander.com COLUMN ABOUT PEACE RALLY IN WASHINGTON D.C
posted 10/31/02
Nancy Brickman and I returned to Friday Harbor on Monday still feeling exuberant from the amazing energy of the crowd of 200 thousand at the October 26, 2002 "Stop the War Before it Starts" Peace March organized by A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) in Washington DC. Both of us had an incredible experience and we could not have done it without the support we received from our Island community. People were impressed that we traveled all the way from Washington State and that we were there thanks to the strength of our support from home. We met people from all up and down the eastern seaboard, Ohio, Nebraska, Vermont, Oregon, some even came from as far as Alaska.
On the bus from the airport into the capital we talked to a man who worked at the airport. As our bus drove by the Pentagon he told us about how on 9/11 he was headed home on that same bus because they had seen the news on the TV at the airport. He was worried about his sister because she worked at the pentagon and phones were not working so he was unable to call her. The Pentagon that day was engulfed in black smoke. He didn't know until late that afternoon that his sister was out of her office at a doctor's appointment. The office she'd worked in was completely destroyed.
We meandered through the capital that day still carrying our luggage. There was blood and red paint dripping from a huge statue of Christopher Columbus in front of Union Station, remnants of a recent anti-Columbus Day demonstration. Thanks to our supporters we had cab fare and we used it. Our motel was perfectly adequate to our needs but a little further out from the capital mall than we expected and in a slightly questionable neighborhood. Although, as far as questionable neighborhoods go we were planning to visit the White House, home of the worst crooks and murderers in the world.
On Friday we visited Senator Patty Murray's office. We walked down the long hallways and up the curving stairways of the Senate office building. Walking down the polished marble halls we peered into the occasional open tall dark wooden door into offices of polished wood, period couches, flags and computers. Senator Murray was in Washington State at the time but we told her staff how much we appreciated her vote against Bush's War resolution. In her bookcase I noticed several pairs of decorated commemorative tenny runners.
From the capital building we wandered down the Mall to the Washington monument and followed the long reflecting pool to the Vietnam War memorial where we met some of the organizers of the Peace March. After making contact with the March organizers we culminated our stroll down the grand promenade with a visit to the Lincoln memorial (where we also located the best bathrooms in the area).
That afternoon in our taxi back to the motel we heard the news that Senator Wellstone's plane had crashed. That evening we went to George Washington University to make signs for the march. A young man who worked with a Jewish Peace organization, a man who had recently been in Iraq, led us in a moment of silence for Senator Wellstone. Wellstone's death was a keenly felt loss to those who work for peace and justice.
At GWU we worked with people, some who were about our age, many collage students and the Muslim Student's Organization stapling together and painting signs for the march. I worked side by side with some women from Vermont and a young fellow from England.
Saturday morning we got up early and caught a taxi to the March site. It was gray & misty having rained through the night but as more and more people poured into the site the sun came out and made it a perfect day for the march. And the people kept pouring in! Buses and buses full of people. The plan had been for a rally of speakers followed by the march down Constitution Ave and around the White House. Then back to a follow up rally. So many buses were pouring in (organizers quit counting the buses after 500 had come in), that the speakers continued while we waited for everyone to arrive before marching.
There were speakers from the military who were against the war. Former Attorny General Ramsey Clark spoke of Bush in terms of impeachable crimes. Speakers from labor, actor Susan Sarandon, Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry's ice cream, representatives of American Islam community and many others spoke to the crowd. Rev Jesse Jackson was a keynote speaker and a personal highlight for me was when we sang along with Patti Smith 'People have the Power'. Nancy's highlight was meeting her hero Amy Goodman of Pacifica radio.
Finally we started to march. Nancy and I sat on a bench at that point to eat and watched the crowd go by for a while. We saw many colorful costumes and signs. A few of my favorites were, 'Make Art not War', 'Asses of Evil' (with pictures of Bush and his cronies), and of course, 'Regime Change begins at home'. There was music, street theatre and even 'Radical Cheerleaders' from New York, a group of young women dressed in punkish early Madonna gear who did cheer routines for the crowd.
We marched toward the White House but the police would not let us anywhere near it. The march was peaceful and so were the police. I had my picture with the White House in the background holding my peace sign and standing next to a very nice (and attractive) swat cop named Smith.
By the time we got all the way around the White House and back to the site the rally was over. We bought a few buttons and picked up some more literature before catching a taxi back to our motel. I remembered Martin Luther King talking about an elderly woman who refused to take the bus during the Montgomery bus boycott. He'd asked her if she wasn't tired. She replied, "My feets is tired but my soul is rested". That was exactly how I felt. My feet were tired but my soul was beaming. It had been a full day so we ordered a pizza and settled down to watch CNN. It was shocking to us that the CNN coverage of this event consisted of about 60 seconds and showed just a handful of hippies watching a rap band. Apparently C-SPAN had some good TV coverage and Pacifica Radio covered 8 hours of the event. Indy media online has good coverage and a link to the Pacifica radio show that recorded speakers and interviews from the rally.
On Sunday we gathered up our belongings and headed back toward the Capital. We watched the Marines marathon race go by as we waited for the National Museum of Art to open. We only had time to see a fraction of the museum but I saw two Vermeer paintings up close and we had a very pleasant lunch in the Gallery cafeteria. Unlike the Seattle Art Museum the National Gallery is free. Then we were on our way home.
It was a fabulous journey and a great inspiration. We are democracy. We can change the world.
