Tag: Lewis Randa

100 Living Peace & Justice Leaders: List 2, Part 2

Posted on by kathiemm

By Kathie Malley-Morrison & Anthony J. Marsella

David Reiff, in his classic paper, “The precarious triumph of human rights” (New York Times Magazine, August 8, 1999), described characteristics of a “new moral order” that we desperately need today:

  • Civil society;
  • Humanitarianism;
  • Human rights versus state sovereignty;
  • Emergence of human rights activists, development workers, aid experts committed to needs of an interdependent world;
  • Small is beautiful;
  • Democracy building;
  • Growth of NGOs;
  • Considering individual as well as state rights;
  • Plans for a permanent international criminal court.

Despite the many abuses permeating societies today, there is a new spirit of encounter (e.g., Black Lives Matter); a new spirit of protest evidenced by DC gatherings of women and minority groups; a new spirit of communication among media free of government or wealth controls; a new spirit of protest against war, militarism, and the spending of a nation’s wealth on weaponry and endless war; a new spirit of concern for life and land; a new spirit of determination to expose the abuses of privilege and position by those who have politicized and weaponized laws for personal use (e.g., FISA).

All these emerging changes signal and sustain “Hope!”  “Hope” is the life blood of progressive change. “Hope” can be suppressed and oppressed, but it cannot be defeated.  Regardless of life forms and species, “hope” is the evolutionary impulse pursuing survival. If you want to hope, just think of the high school students organizing to fight gun violence ; honor their courage in joining together to protest in front of the White House ; admire their plans for a march on Washington in March.

Our list-building efforts are just beginning. Each day, new people are rising to the call.  Please send us names and links of individuals and nonprofits you think should be recognized for their contributions to the cause.

 

  1. Kame’eleihiwa: Lilikalā K. Kame’eleihiwa
  2. Katz: Nancie L. Katz
  3. Kaye: Jeff Kaye
  4. Kelman: Herb & Rose Kelman
  5. Khan-Cullors: Patrisse Khan-Cullors
  6. Kimmel, Paul Kimmel
  7. Kivel, Paul Kivel
  8. Kis-Lev, Jonathan Kis-Lev
  9. Lapham: Lewis Lapham
  10. LeBlanc: Andrea LeBlanc
  11. LoCicero: Alice LoCicero
  12. Lopez-Lopez: Wilson Lopez-Lopez
  13. Lutz: Catherine Lutz
  14. Lykes: Brinton Lykes
  15. Lyubanski: Mikhail Lyubanski
  16. MacNair: Rachel MacNair
  17. Maleno: Helena Maleno
  18. Martin: Abby Martin
  19. McKee: Ann McKee 
  20. McKinney: Cynthia McKinney
  21. McKone: Anita McKone
  22. Moghaddam: Fathali Moghaddam
  23. Montiel: Christina Montiel
  24. Moore: Michael Moore
  25. Nelson: Linden Nelson
  26. Norsworthy: Kathryn Norsworthy
  27. Palast: Greg Palast
  28. Parenti: Michael Parenti
  29. Perlman: Diane Perlman
  30. Randa: Lewis Randa
  31. Rappoport: Jon Rappoport
  32. Robinson: Rashad Robinson
  33. Rosenberg: Carol Rosenberg
  34. Secker: Glyn Secker
  35. Shetterly:  Robert Shetterly
  36. Shiva: Vandana Shiva
  37. Sivaraksa: Sulak Sivaraksa
  38. Soldz: Stephen Soldz
  39. Solomon: Norman Solomon
  40. Spieler: Susan Spieler
  41. Stout: Christopher E. Stout
  42. Sveaass:  Nora Sveaass
  43. Valent: Roberto Valent
  44. Wadlow: Rene Wadlow
  45. Wasfi: Dahlia Wasfi
  46. Wessells: Michael Wessells
  47. Wise: Steven M.Wise
  48. Wollman: Neil Wollman
  49. Wright: Ann Wright
  50. Zeese: Kevin Zeese                                                                                                                          Join us in celebrating the individuals making the world a better place for all; individuals advancing the human and natural order. 

Lewis Randa: Inspiring a socialist alternative

Posted on by kathiemm

 

Stone memorial to civilians killed in war. Courtesy of the Peace Abbey.

by Kathie MM

In a chart in a recent post entitled 100 Living Peace and Justice Leaders, the characteristics attributed to peace and justice leaders and models included:

nonviolence,

inspiration,

tolerating struggle,

empathy & compassion,

integrity,

courage,

and a purpose-driven life.

In honor of Valentine’s Day, 2018, I want to honor one man who exemplifies all those characteristics: Lewis Randa, founder of the Life Experience School  and the Peace Abbey

Here are brief examples of each of those characteristics in Lewis’s life:

Nonviolence: Lewis explains, “Martin Luther King said, ‘If you haven’t found something worth dying for you’re not fit to live.’ Nonviolence is something I’d be willing to die for. I don’t torture myself over whether I’ve done a good job or bad job.” (verdict:superb job)

 Inspiration: From the founding of The Life Experience School for special needs children and young adults in 1972 (his alternative service as a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War) to his current nonviolent resistance to any governmental move to use nuclear weapons against North Korea, Lewis has inspired multitudes.

Tolerating struggle: The nonviolent civil resistance in which Lewis has engaged his entire life has consistently demanded tolerating struggle; add to that his engagement in the stone walk— the project involving hauling a one-ton granite stone memorializing civilians 500 miles in the US, many miles in Ireland, and then later, under the able leadership of Dot Walsh, substantial distances in Japan and Korea.

Empathy & compassion: Because of  empathy and compassion for all living creatures,  Lewis is a vegetarian—as is the rest of his family — and a proponent of animal rights   (You just have to read Emily the cow’s story!)

Courage: Being a conscientious objector in wartime, promoting conscientious objection to war, advocating for interfaith harmony in a nation that is increasingly intolerant of non-Christian faiths,  and his willingness to speak out for peace and peacemakers to a government embroiled in violence testifies to his courage.

To learn more about a purpose-driven life, just watch this inspiring video,  and add meaning to your own life by joining Lewis’s peace-seeking letter-writing campaign to Chairman Kim Jung-un.

 

Sabbath Satori

Posted on by kathiemm
Stefan and John.
author: Lewis Randa, Life Experience School.

by Stefan Schindler

“Do we want to preserve the traditions – the history, prayers, rituals, and faith – which make Judaism distinctive, or do we want to become just a bunch of ethicists?” An ethicist advocates virtue, and the rabbi’s question was rhetorical. Now stay with me here; this is not complex.

Sabbath is the Hebrew holy day, beginning on Friday evening and extending through Saturday. Satori is a Japanese Buddhist word for enlightenment. One Saturday morning long ago, when I was still a child and attending a religious instruction class at our local temple, I had a mini-enlightenment.

I was only 12, and I found the Sabbath morning class inspirational. It was intellectually stimulating in a way that school was not. That morning, the rabbi’s question struck a chord. The name of that chord is irony. A Jewish education is ironic because, at its best, it’s Socratic: it teaches one to doubt and inquire. The same is true of Buddhism.

I was too shy to voice my response to the rabbi’s challenge; besides, he was on a roll. But I have always remembered that moment. Adding a retrospective flavor, here’s what I thought:

Although my mother was a Christian, she converted to Judaism to please my father. During the process of her conversion, my mother asked the rabbi if there was a conflict in being both Christian and Jewish. She wanted to convert, but she also wanted to keep her Christian values.

The rabbi responded that ethics is the heart of the Torah; therefore, at the deepest, most important level, there is no conflict. He told the story of the Hebrew sage who was asked to summarize the Torah, standing on one leg. So the sage stood on one leg and replied very simply: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

And so, dear rabbi, on this glorious Sabbath morning for which I do give thanks, kindly allow me to say: I would much rather have a world of ethicists, committed to peace and the Golden Rule, than a world of religious rivalry and strife. Religious distinctiveness has its beauty, but it also contributes, tragically, to what Hegel calls “the slaughter-bench of history.”

I would, therefore, gladly abandon all religious difference in favor of – and here comes irony again – a postreligious world committed to what the Dalai Lama calls “a common religion of kindness.”

After all, isn’t what all religions have in common more important than how they differ?

And at the heart of all religions, is there not a common urge, prayer, and path to the Peaceable Kingdom on earth?

 

Lighting Those Candles

Posted on by kathiemm
Minot’s Ledge Lighthouse in a storm. In the public domain. Source: US Coast Guard.

By Kathie MM

Yesterday’s post by Lewis Randa, Director of the Peace Abbey, is a model letter for Donald Trump to consider sending to Chairman of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Kim Jung-un.  The post is also a beacon to all of us in these stormy, treacherous times.

In 1932, as newly-elected President Franklin Delano Roosevelt undertook to combat the greatest threat of the times—the Great Depression—he spoke those immortal words, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”

Nameless unreasoning fear abounds today, but much of our terror is justified—not because there are hordes of terrorists whom people in power are nevertheless  eager to name, but because of the all-too-real threats to the sustainability of life on earth.

Fear—for example, of fascism, of the National Security Administration, of terrorists, of losing everything—is destructive of hearts and minds, depressing and debilitating, and demoralizing in countless ways.

One common response to de-moralizing fear is to strike out,  to hurt, to punish, to destroy the target of one’s fear.

But  recognize this: Hatred and murderous aggression rarely lead to sustainable fear-reducing outcomes.

On the other hand, making love instead of war may be too passive and self-focused to confront fear and make the world a better place.

So, here’s a better antidote to destructive fear and feelings of helplessness: Engaging in prosocial activism, engaging peace.

Specific prescription: Engage in letter writing campaigns of the sort recommended by Lewis Randa. Send his letter, with or without your own modifications, to Donald Trump.

Or, write your own letter to President Trump, with your own recommendations for avoiding nuclear war, for achieving peace with North Korea, for making the world a safer and more life-sustaining place for coming generations.

And even more promising: Start your own letter writing campaigns or join existing programs that seek positive solutions to problems such as gun violence, sexism and racism, world hunger and poverty, environmental destruction.  Make loving efforts for peace, not war.

For further inspiration, listen to a recording of John Hall’s Power .

You can read the lyrics here.