Time is Running Out

Day Three: March 19 marks the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. We continue our series of thoughts, and words written between 2003 and 2008. With each peace march and candlelight vigil, we had hoped our voices would be heard and the violence ended. But the killing goes on. As if the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan aren’t bad enough, our administration is now intent upon attacking Iran. We must not let it happen. Please stand up and let your voice be heard. NO MORE WAR!

Days before the attack on Iraq - 2003

I find it very difficult this week to work on anything. There is tightness in my chest, tenseness in my body. Each morning I vow I will not listen to the radio, watch TV news, or click onto CNN.com. I commit myself to peaceful activity…Tai Chi, burning incense, and my artwork.

All of my resolutions dissolved this morning when I opened my e-mail to find an urgent alert from MoveOn.org. “Emergency” was on the subject line. “Send this letter to your friends asking them to sign a petition to the UN. Time is running out!”

So I copied, pasted, looked up e-mail addresses, composed letters to six relatives and friends. How could I not? Time is running out. We will soon be at war, perhaps by next week. One more try, one more petition, six more e-mails, and another day too disturbed to be creative. We are all under Bush’s guns.

And what happens the morning after the bombs fall? Do we all shrug and say, “At least we tried to stop the war?” Or do we use our common desire for peace in the world to send a different kind of message than the one that the Bush administration has chosen? We must continue to seek positive and peaceful ways to change the world. We can make a difference. We cannot, and must not revert to silent acceptance of a “done deal.” We must keep the promise; our commitment to peace.

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.

….Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

... P. L. Morningstar
.