peace.

below is an email i wrote to my friends Mal and Nate:

(i'd invite you to read it too)

dear brother,
dear sister,

something just happened on this rainy day that i had to tell you.

at our lunch-table here at the main-base-camp there was a large amount of american ex-pats,
all with rice, beans, birds, and chapattis.

as i was finishing my meal,
and licking my fingers clean,
one middle-age american man started bashing obama as well as american "liberals" and "hippies".

considering my reputation for preaching 'round the table on the need for love and peace...
with recent-emphasis on the need for human beings to over-come the temptation to "label the humanity out of real people" because we want to belittle their opinions and decisions.....
and considering that i was the only long-haired, big-bearded brother at the gathering...

eyes looked to me.
and i sat attentive but stoic.

i listened in quiet.
then i got up and went to wash my hands.
as i got to the door some one said,
"andy, what do you have to say about that?"

and i replied:

"i think we should support the politicians who support our ideals...and respect others who do the same."

then i cleaned the grease off my sticky fingers.

when i came back into the room the man was doing another monologue.
as i crossed the room to grab my TIME magazine and head out for some reading,
he looked right at me when he said,

"i think that the cowards who burn their draft cards and move to Canada shouldn't be allowed to vote or be considered americans."

i stood still in his stare.

then he said,

"and if i ever catch someone burning a flag, i'm going to burn them."

my heart beat like a little humming-bird,
with such hatred in the room with me,
with such anger directed at me...even though i hadn't stated anything to the contrary.
even though i didn't give him dirty looks,
and even though i had been so intentional to listen with attentiveness.

(as you already knew would happen, i said something.)

when words came from my mouth,
they arrived without anger,
with out f***-you-faces,
without "you-old-dumby" condescension...

i just said,

"do you think it took some courage to be so passionately committed to an ideal that you'd move to a foreign country and risk imprisonment to make your statement known to the world?"

from here on out,
no matter how angry he got,
i never fought back.

in fact,
i never gave him my opinion on one issue,
because he never asked.
(such behavior is very powerful in peace-building i think)

i just kept asking him to try and see the people on the other side of his opinions as real people.
people who are trying to protect their family, them selves, and their ideals,
people like him.

it came out over and over again that he was a Vietnam war veteran,
he was one of the many who were exiled by their generation.
one of the many who were spit on and disrespected.

i assume that my appearance and such vivid, disturbing memories are the reason to why he originally made me the target to his harsh words.

the conversation jumped around to different key-issues in american politics,
abortion, war, prison reform, american-poverty responsibilities, social welfare,
and he would state the "absolute" facts behind his opinions,

and i would just tell him a story about some one i had the chance to meet, who saw things differently,
but showed equal passion, siting "freedom" and "family" as the foundations to their opinions.
and asked him what he thought after each story.

i really was listening to him!
it was a very transcendent flooding of self-control.
it was real brotherly-love i felt concerning this angry man.

but THIS last part is why i'm emailing you.
we did something today!
(yes, of course, WE.
for, though it seems cliche in-light of the band name of our friends...
there is no "me" without "you".)

i could see the conversation was winding down,
and i looked him right in his eyes and said something that i have paraphrased below:
(and i seriously didn't plan on saying it until it came out of my mouth)

"Don, on behalf of all of us who believe in the power of peace being stronger than the might of armies,
on behalf of all of us who try to protest against diverse wars of the world with our songs, poems, marches, pictures, paintings and lives,
on behalf of all of us who really believe in a lot of the Allan Ginsburg ideals that helped spawn the hippie-fad of the 60's,
on behalf of all of us,
i'm sorry that you were spit on.
that was wrong.
that is awful.
and i am sorry.
"we" are sorry."

he said, "thank you....but really there's no need...."

then i said,

"here is the first opinion i'd like to share with you today -
i DO think there is a need.
i think that american's everywhere should be apologizing for the sins of our fore-fathers and mothers,
i think that we who wear the skin of the white complexion should apologize for the sins of our ethnic-fathers and mothers,
i think that we who claims to follow Jesus' teachings should apologize for the legacy of violence and the perpetration of exclusivism that the majority of the past and way-too-many of the contemporary followers have shame-less-ly embraced."

then he thanked me for everything....
for not getting defensive, even though he had attacked me without reason,
he thanked me for listening,
he told me that i was very articulate and that he thought i must be a good writer.

PEACE!
more than a ideal!

it was great my brother and sister.
it was right.
and it is far-more "hippie" than dred-locks, stinky-pits, used clothes, or "intentional" living communities.

and i felt you both with me as it all went down.
i felt walt.
i smelt the lingering fragrance of our hopes and dreams.

love,
andy.