Day 30: I joined Father McCarthy and his family for a filling pancake breakfast. The two of us talked for another few hours, rather I listened and tried to soak up this glowing man’s knowledge and tranquility. His life’s work and bold, loving example helped me realize that I still worry too much about approval. When I encounter somebody who, based simply on looking at them, I think may be critical of my beliefs, I keep the details of my trip very limited. I need to stop being worried. If I can only talk about my beliefs and the details about my trip to people I think won’t criticize me, what does that say about my beliefs and what I’m doing?

“Christ-like love can be very costly, but expensive or not, it is the power given to the church… heroic, Christ-like sanctity and love rest secuse in the faith that regardless of how dreadful life may seem to be as a whole, or in a particular moment, God is Love, almighty and present.” -Father Emmanuel Charles McCarthy, All Things Flee Thee for Thou Fleest Me: A Cry to the Churches and Their Leaders to Stop Running from the Nonviolent Jesus and His Nonviolent Way

Father McCarthy and I

I left the McCarthy house full of self-examination and the humble, bold, loving spirituality that Charlie emitted. After a few hours in suburban Boston, I hit the outskirts of town and took the subway to the main part of town, got off, and walked another 8 or so miles to my next host’s apartment. My Boston hosts are my friend Tope, who I’ve known since elementary school, her husband David, and their six-month old Abby.

I reached their house in time for dinner, and over a steaming bowl(s) of soup, discussed our transitions from the religious community we grew up in.

Day 31: After playing with Abby and the family bird for awhile, a local peace activist picked us up and we went to dinner with some other activists. One of them was Carlos Arredondo whose testimony I remember watching from Winter Soldier (Winter Soldier was a confrence of Iraq veterans, Iraqis, contractors, and military families sharing a firsthand perspective on the war that cuts far beyond mainstream broadcasting: http://ivaw.org/wintersoldier/testimony/cost-war-home/carlos-arredondo/video).

The word sobering only begins to describe my brief interaction with Carlos. Being back from deployment for over a year, the tragic moments don’t come to mind as often. Carlos’s son didn’t get a chance to return from his deployment. Carlos was so heart-broken, he set himself on fire, but survived to live as a reminder of the human cost of war. He told me how he took a casket, covered with an American flag, and drove it across the country. While the government (until recently) denied photographs of caskets returning from Iraq, a man who couldn’t pretend war was a far-off event, unconnected with day-to-day life, reminded the nation of something that most of us would like not to think about. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/01/nyregion/01father.html

Following dinner, we drove to the Peace Abbey (http://www.peaceabbey.org/), the closest thing I’ve seen to a peace museum. It was home to several animals that had escaped slaughter houses as well as all kinds of peace artifacts including the alter cloth of Oscar Romero (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%93scar_Romero) and the shirt and shoes of Peace Pilgrim, a woman who walked thousands and thousands of miles to talk to people about peace. There was also a monument to ccivilians died in war that was pulled in a wagon from Boston to Arlington National Cemetery, but denied entrance.

Unknown Civilians Memorial

http://www.stonewalk.org/

Some estimates count civilian deaths from the Global War on Terror at well over one million. But according to Gen. Tommy Franks, “we don’t do body counts”. In a war to “liberate” a nation, the dead involved often aren’t counted; the ends supposedly justify the means, forget the probability that when your family member or friend are killed and counted as mere collateral damage, then “liberator” probably wouldn’t be the term you would use to describe that foreign army.

In the garden, a statue honored Gandi

Tope, David, and I at the Gandhi statue

 I shared my experiences and journey with a group at the Abbey and definitely felt the influence of Father McCarthy as I spoke; able to explain inward ideas clearer and with more confidence. The Abbey also had a registry of Conscientious Objectors and as it was through the whole evening, I was honored to visit and take part of this inspiring place.

signing the Conscientious Objector registry