Reply #115: I Am Going Because....

[hippywife]

I have been reading the September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows book. I found the following exerpt which I think should cause us all to stop and think about what we do, or more importantly what we don't do, in our daily lives.

This is from 1958 written by a Naval Officer and submarine chaser who chose to oppose the testing of nuclear weaponry. He sailed out into the Pacific Ocean to where the U.S. had been testing H-bombs and wrote the following essay outlining the reasons he went.

When the call is made for people to join a local peace effort, bear in mind the small sacrifices those efforts require compared to what this man and so many others have done to make the world sit up and think differently about the atrocities that occur in the world everyday. I think it is important to bear him in mind when deciding if we, individually, will answer the call to action.


I Am Going Because...
by Albert Bigelow


I am going because, as Shakespeare said, "Action is eloquence." Without some direct action, ordinary citizens lack the power any longer to be seen or heard by their government. I am going because it is time to DO something about peace, not just TALK about peace.

I am going because, like all people, in my heart I know that ALL nuclear weapons are monstrous, evil, unworthy of human beings.

I am going because war is no longer a feudal jousting match; it is an unthinkable catastrophe for all people.

I am going because it is now the little children, most of all, the as-yet-unborn that are frontline troops. It is my duty to stand between them and this horrible danger.

I am going because it is cowardly and degrading for me to stand by any longer, to consent, and thus to collaborate in atrocities.

I am going because I cannot say that the end justifies the means.

A Quaker, William Penn, said, "A good end cannot sanctify evil means; nor must we ever do evil that good may come of it." A Communist, Milovan Djilas, says, "As soon as means which would ensure an end are shown to be evil, the end will show itself to be unrealized."

I am going because, as Gandhi said, "God sits in the man opposite me, there for to injure him is to injure God himself."

I am going to witness the deep inward truth we all know, "Force can subdue, but love gains."

I am going because however mistaken, unrighteous, and unrepentent governments may seem, I still believe all people are really good at heart, and that my act will speak to them.

I am going in the hope of helping to change the hearts and minds of men in government. If necessary, I am willing to give my life to help change a policy of fear, force, and destruction to one of trust, kindess, and help.

I am going in order to say, "Quit this race, this arms race. Turn instead to a disarmament race. Stop competing for evil, compete for good.

I am going because I have to--if I am to call myself a human being. When you see something horrible happening, your instinct is to do something about it. You can freeze in fearful apathy or you can even talk yourself into saying that it isn't horrible. I can't do that, I have to act. This is too horrible. We know it. Let's all act.


http://www.peacefultomorrows.org/speaking/april20.html