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There were 27 members present representing the Monthly Meetings of Chambersburg, Lancaster, and Harrisburg. Blair Seitz from Harrisburg MM served as clerk of this called session to discuss "What are we called to do in the current situation following the events of the September 11 crisis?"The fruits of this session will be brought together for all Monthly Meetings in preparation for a called Yearly Meeting on 11th month, 10th at the Arch St. Meeting House from 1 to 5 PM. Threshing means putting forth our insights and opinions in a worshipful and uninhibited manner. We should listen closely to one another. We should express our own words to the leading of the Spirit. We should try to focus on each topic as it is raised. We will settle into a period of respectful worship and then share our feelings regarding the events of September 11 at that time and how these feelings have changed over time. During the Threshing Session, we will look into how we as Quakers can respond.
Blair Seitz reviewed the General Secretaries report, the statement from PYM and others, the Minute of Love and Action Adopted by Harrisburg Friends Meeting, and the proposal from PYM to engage a full time staff person to work on peace concerns. Sandra Grotberg, clerk of Chambersburg Friends Meeting later submitted a letter from their meeting in support of those in their community who may be persecuted because of the events of September 11, as well as two documents on how to take a creative problem solving approach to the nature of the challenge we face as a nation. These new items will be forwarded with these minutes to PYM.
After a respectful period of silent worship, the attendees broke into groups of three and four to share experiences and then reported their responses back to the session as a whole. The responses were as follows:
It would be difficult to have "peaceful" thoughts in knowing how to respond if one were on the plane that flew over Pennsylvania. There were concerns about the safety of family and children, particularly if they were in the vicinity of the World Trade Towers, and later gratitude for their safety. Now there are concerns on how to allow for a safe forum for ones children to express their minority viewpoints.
There was previous awareness of the bitterness of Arab and Muslim people against the United States. There was shame felt for the rhetoric of our countries leadership, and what is needed is needed now is a redistribution of the world's resources to meet the needs of third world countries.
The response that should happen is with an international police power including that of the United Nations.
It is easy to be seduced into discussions of war when discussing with others what may be our country's response to what happened. Although dismayed by the actions against Muslims and middle- eastern peoples, also encouraged by the statements of our President to be tolerant of people with different religious beliefs.
Grief. What happened was quickly defined as an act of war and not a criminal act, and thus justice should be sought through international courts. We as Friends should redefine this problem and educate others.
Flag waving can be viewed by some of us as offensive and not as an expression of our patriotism. Flag waving can be used as a justification for us to pick on someone less powerful than us. A United Nations flag would be more symbolic of our way to agree to disagree on this subject.
Another asked us to realize that some people who fly the flag do not view it as jingoistic, but rather as an ideal of what our country stands for as viewed by people who have recently come from other less fortunate nations, and also as something to be of support to us in a time of unknown future.
The imagery of the phrase "until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream" does not always hold true for rolling waters due not always have a consistent path and the path can be capricious. Justice must be more predictable.
Sense of hopelessness and opportunity. Psychic shock. Anxious. Sadness. Depression. Anger.
We should put aside our differences so this doesn't have to happen again. Stop the cycle of violence and the reaction to it with the use of more violence. Terrorists are not born but made. We need to look into what are the sources leading to terrorism. Our country has a denial for the violence and death that have occurred throughout the world, and what could have been done to prevent it.
There is a fear for the loneliness of our opinion, which is not the prevailing opinion, for what can be done to deal with the situation we have.
It was a surreal experience after September 11 of having to drive from Long Island through Manhattan back to the beautiful farmland of Lancaster County.
It isn't fair that there is an ongoing interrogation of people in our country who look different than many of us.
What are we to do if the draft is reinstated, and how do we express our minority view about this without being stigmatized?
It is a daily struggle to also hold the terrorists in the Light.
Tragedy triggers grief and this can be expressed as anger. It is allright to have these feelings. How can these feelings be then transformed into a higher feeling of community toward one another and the helping of one another?
It is difficult to separate seeking justice from the feeling of revenge.
We then entered into a threshing session to seek out meaningful actions. These were expressed as follows:
We should meet with Senator Specter and other congressional representatives in our area to express our viewpoints as Quakers. We need to talk about the concept of justice and not its application as retribution. We need to express our view of what happened as a criminal act and not as an act of war. We need to help the victims of homelessness and poverty not only at home but throughout the world. Our representatives need to serve as watchdogs so as not to compromise the civil liberties we have as Americans. There should be no changing of laws without public hearings. Is there a member of one of our Meetings who is casually familiar with Gov. Ridge who could also express the above viewpoints?
We need to emphasize our testimonies of simplicity and right sharing in a public manner so as to improve the conditions of peoples throughout the world. We need to support the ideas of those 26% of the US population who are in favor of these positive changes throughout the world.
We need to have self-education as well as public education of the root causes of the conditions that may lead to terrorism.
We need to return to the direct action of silent vigils, the theme of which is to melt terrorism with love and to feed your enemies. We need to make a witness of love with our bodies by going to Afghanistan to feed the people and to connect with them as fellow human beings. Food, not bombs. As part of these vigils, we need to remember the principles of restorative justice and also reach out to the victims of the terror in NYC as well as to those in Afghanistan.
In the event of a reinstatement of the draft, each Monthly Meeting should record and forward to PYM the actions, activities, and statements of belief of its children and young Friends in order to document such a record if it is needed in the future to assist in the completion of an application for conscientious objection to war.
PYM should develop programs and outreach to assist Monthly Meetings in helping and supporting our children and their families to deal with the reality of how they can respond to and cope with the pressures of the wider society, both in school and after school activities, so that we feel safe to express our minority opinion regarding our opposition to war.
We need to network with other churches, that hold a similar opinion, in a public expression of our beliefs of peace. How can we find creative ways to encourage the voices of reason, and to melt terrorism with love?
We need to practice the principle of accompaniment to reassure those who may feel threatened by what has happened.
We need to share well, thought -out written material about how to deal with the present situation with the use of different metaphors rather than demonization.
We need to proselytize. We should run ads indicating that our Meetinghouses are open to all who may disagree with the approaches that have been suggested, and that such dissenters should come to discuss and worship with us over these issues.
We need to remain tender to those in the military who also believe in the peace process.
Various opinions were expressed but no decision was reached regarding the proposal to support PYM to engage a fulltime staff person to work on peace concerns.
As we get caught up in our own issues of how to respond to what has happened, we should not ignore the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and its lack of resolution. It may be helpful to review, update, and make public the unpopular AFSC document of the 1950's on the Quaker response to the settlement of this disagreement and conflict. Also, the Quaker UN Office needs to bring this issue to the floor of the UN once again.
Our peace movement needs to be creative. We as Quakers need to do differently than we have done before in our nation's response to a call for war.
We need to promote the International Court at the Hague in resolutions of conflicts of this magnitude and threat to the peace both internally to a country and worldwide.
Blair Seitz, clerk of the Threshing Session
Ken Woerthwein, recording clerk
Last modified: Wednesday, February 18, 2004 at 08:18 AM