I know a lot of people are disappointed with the results of the election, and that would have been the case in any scenario. This 100 YEAR LAMB'S WAR comic that I am working on calls people to adopt a long-term vision for a century of peacemaking, but before we go on, we need to make sure that we resist the allure of moving to Canada, or some other perceived refuge from the culture of war that surrounds us.

Please join me in pledging not to move to Canada today, so that we can take on the task of securing our country through peaceful prevention of deadly conflict at a grassroots level. Click reply and post your message to join this pledge. ;^)

In times of stress, it always helps to remember: WWCAD? ("What would Captain America do?") Would he move to Canada? HECK NO! I'm here for the long stretch too. Bring it on, George; we're not rolling over and playing dead.

Thank you for your wise words, and thanks for joining the pledge! It's puzzling that more people haven't made the commitment. I thought the Bush supporters, at least, would get on the wagon.

OK, you make a good point. Maybe I won't move to Canada just yet, though it's on my mind quite a bit more than usual. It's comforting to know that there are still some conscious citizens who are willing to put forth the effort to break the trance of THE ADMINISTRATION. I'm all for grassroots movements, especially if it allows me to stay in my beloved Golden State.
Thank you!

I'm neither the most eloquent nor the most animated in this field, but I've been given a small calling, and that's what I've got to stick with.

Chuck Fager wrote:

Of course, there is no Friendly Pentagon, no broadbrimmed Chiefs of Staff to issue our marching orders ... [This] is not an army, and each of us is called to find our own leading, our own place in the tooth to tail ratio, working together with others as way opens. I think of us as more like irregular pieces of a patchwork quilt, worked by the Divine Quilter, so that all our peculiarities somehow fit together, just the way they’re supposed to.

Fortunately, the goals of the Hundred-Year Lamb’s War provide a very broad quilt. There’s room in it for Friends whose pieces are concerned with women’s issues, the environment, racism, or poverty. It can also cover very different styles, from inside lobbyists to outside agitators, scholars and visionaries, lone wolves and committee junkies.

It can be tough going sometimes, but to give up our own leadings and leave behind our own communities for something else is to neglect something vital and life-sustaining.

Well, I've never even thought of moving to Canada. What's all this talk about? George Bush and staff would LOVE it if the opposition just left the country - then their takeover would be complete! They're called freedom fighters, not freedom quitters. What a bunch of wimps we're breeding these days as an excuse for liberals. The right has always said, "if you don't like it, then you're free to leave!" and we have always answered, "that's stupid and not even the point!" We don't like it, and we're going to change it, not give up and move to Canada!

George Fox wants thee? Well Joseph Smith already has me! And Canada sure as heck aint in Utah pal!

To Jean: That's part of my point. The other part is that presidential politics is probably the least effective way for us to uplift our society. Here are some resources to help get people involved in the field of direct action.

To Lorenzo: Most Quakers I know would not say that they belong to Fox nor honor Fox with titles or distinctions. The "George Fox wants thee" slogan came from Fager's Declaration, which was originally addressed to a Quaker audience. I met Chuck at an education conference back in August (8th month in plain speech) and I found myslef in full accord with his presentation; I think that the essential message is relevant to us all, and we all have a unique vocation in buiding a robust fellowship to uplift our communities in the century before us.

From 1 Corinthians:

Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose. For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters. What I mean is that each of you says, "I belong to Paul," or "I belong to Apollos," or "I belong to Cephas," or "I belong to Christ." Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

It seems incandescently clear that this message remains vital to us today; it is well noted that our traditions and cultural inheritance provide us with something life-sustaining, but these distinctions must be held in the Light of a larger unity. ;^)

image: http://quakerhouse.org/QH%20Exhibit/I_want_out_w_return_address_small.jpg

Well, let's not get too dramatic and wordy here people. Gee, maybe we should send all the asylum seekers in America back to their countries as cowards avoiding the good fight in their own regions.How about it? No? I didn't think so. Just watch all the altruistic speach and stick with the basics.
John is right about one thing: presidential politics is not the main issue - it's just a symbol and a potential distraction from grassroots community initiatives. Most of us don't believe in "top down" management, so why the sudden obsession with top down politics? Get involved at the municipal, county, and state levels, and build a base - the building is only as sound as its foundation. Attack the roots! Bush is just a leaf on a wicked branch.

Thanks, Matt, and well put.

I appreciate your call to stick to the basics. I withdraw everything I said after the word "moving."

Incidentally, I set up a new page for community projects I'm working on aimed at pulling up those roots in my own neighborhood through dialogue and active learning. Hopefully it won't be too wordy or dramatic, but will stay close to the heart of things.

Wow, what a websight. Did it ever occur to any of you that 1) Jesus and MLK weren't languishing on an obscure websight or in a dubious backwater (Triangle? sounds like it only exists on T.V.), but right in the thick of the public where the battle was hottest? And 2) J.C. and MLK were genuinley charismatic people and you are not, so trying to approximate their respective speeking styles makes you sound ridiculous, naive, insincere, sophomoric, and childishly self absorbed in a temporary make believe grownup game played during recess. Find your own voice, get out of your little triangle hole, and engage society where they live and on their own terms.

Funny that you mention it, because both Yeshua & Dr. King lived and worked most of their lives in relative backwaters – although it was the site of an ambitious temple complex, Eretz Israel was hardly the center of the Roman Empire (although it was the acknowledged core of the YHWH faith), neither does it seem that Georgia & Alabama were regarded as nodes of mainstream American culture when Dr. King was serving in the revolutionary nonviolent struggle that has come down to us.

I figured you'd say that . No, jerk, I didn't say they lived in London or Paris or New York, but King worked in the heart of the civil rights hotbed - the  deep south, where it was hitting the hardest, and then he took the march to D.C. not Triangle, and Jesus started in his little backwater, but he took it all the way to Jeruselem - not Triangle, or beardedbaby.net. If Jesus or MLK started and stayed in Triangle, they would not have made any impact or change, nor would they have left any legacy to posterity. You can be clever about it, but if you shield yourself from my message by pointing out my spelling errors, or smart alec details about where J.C. or MLK are from, then you can miss your chance to learn something - something more than your pointless academic excercises that yield no results in the real world. What good is all your perfect grammar, spelling, and textbook accuracy if all you've accomplished is lecturing the trees and rocks of Triangle?  Comic books provide sideline entertainment for me, thus leading me to this websight, but rest assured everything else I do is hands on, in the public eye, in the real world - where people live - lots of people. Not Triangle. You geeks don't get it - straining the gnat and swallowing the camel. Get off your websight, and out of Triangle and do something tangible, and don't give me some "think globally act locally" bull either, or some labored wheeze about giving and caring one by one - in Triangle that would probably amount to saving one soul, and then losing them to the local McDonalds or gas station. I predict another smart alec retort from you or your ilk; trying to dodge the issue by casting aspersions on my intelligence, or sidelining the point with witty minutiae, but whether or not you want to face it,  the point remains: By marginalizing yourself, and playing the big fish in the small pond,  you will never have any significant impact - globally or locally. I feel very fortunate that Jesus didn't  choose to start a specialized, marginalized, minority interest websight, or live and remain in Triangle. "Look at me, I'm a comic book genius and local liberal superhero to the boys down at the Exxon station in Triangle. We're changing the world one tank of gas at a time!" The trouble with nerds is that they know it all, but never learn, and have nothing to teach. It would be better for all of you if you had millstones tied about your necks, and well...you geeks know the rest. I hope I didn't mispelll anything. That might invalidate this entire post. What I'm trying to do here, nerds, is force you to entertain new perspectives, and shake you out of your self-imortant small town complacency in the hope of inspiring you to challenge yourselves to take your mission to the next level, and the next level, and the next... just because you have a comic book websight, that doesn't seem to produce many (or any) comics, and you lectured some kids at the local community college, doesn't mean your exactly standing on the shoulders of giants. You talk pretty big about changing the world, but can't seem to deal with having yourselves under the microscope, so I now quit the stage here to allow you to begin sidestepping, dissembling, and spellchecking; with a dictionary, thesaurus, and college grammar textbook, you can dodge this missile again! Carry on! I'm an ignorant fool, but you are impotent blowhards, so full of yourselves for this virtual revolution fantasy created on this websight. Enjoy your imaginary revolution. Cheers!

It's okay for us to have a fundamental difference of oppinion on this. I'm not trying to sidestep or insult your intelligence, but I don't think you know anything about Triangle; this town may not be a bustling metropolis, but the coridor I'm in is right up against the belly of the beast. Will my endeavors warrant wiretaps from the CIA or get heads turning at the Pentagon (both of which are headquartered within fifteen miles)? Probably not. But that isn't the long-term goal.

The long-term goal is not to stage a monumental protest and to get famous; it is to foster a revolution of values & to create a culture of peace. You're right to demand more YCs and MLKs and Gandhis, but if you want more of those guys, somebody has to be raising them up in every neighborhood and backwater.

I live in a heavily military community where a child is three times more likely to be murdered by a parent than elsewhere. There is a lot of pressure on the people who are my neighbors. Someone has to help communities like this develop skills in positive nonviolent social change.

Gandhi, MLK, and Yeshua all began their work in the backwater becuase that's where the people live who are most debased by the powers that be.

I appreciate your desire to take it to the next level, and the next, but if you're seriously interested in improving our practices, you should come and see what we do. Any peace-realted web site looks pretentious if the only thing they do is make grand claims on the internet, and if that's all we do, we'd deserve your diatribe, but that's imposible to judge from where you are. We're in the DC Metro area, and you're invited to visit us any time you're in the neighborhood.

Alternately, you can assess our projects as failures and get on with taking it to the next level in your community. If disgust about our nerdy presentation moves you to show us how it's done, I'm happy with that.

Don't have time for more now. Warm regards! I have sincerely enjoyed your messages. Your writing and sense of humor are very distinctive.