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The Trouble With Our State
May 17, 2007
This week, my trouble-making friends and I, after several postponements, were expecting to stand trial for our attempt in Santa Fe last September 26th to pay a visit to Senator Pete Domenici and urge him to sign the "Declaration of Peace," a pledge to help end the U.S. war on Iraq. To aid our case we boldly subpoenaed the good senator, who is up to his ears in problems for his role in the firing of prosecutors. His lawyers are wrangling to keep him out of the courtroom, so our trial has now be postponed again until June 14th in Albuquerque.
But resistance to the war grows and with it our hope. A few weeks ago, the Philadelphia Fourteen, another Declaration-of-Peace group, were acquitted in a similar case. Trapped in an elevator too, for coming to see their senator, the police milled about monitoring their moves. Their verdict gives us hope--if we keep at it, others will be acquitted, and others and others, and the props holding up the lies will come down in a crash. And the war, one day, will end.
I draw hope from another quarter--the tenacious witness of my Jesuit brother, legendary peacemaker Rev. Daniel Berrigan, who turned 86 last week. This summer, a series of his ten best books, including his autobiography, will be republished by Wipf and Stock.
To celebrate his birthday, and his keeping at it all these years, friends have produced an astonishing CD of Dan reciting and reflecting on 25 of his best poems. I wrote the liner notes, Martin Sheen and Howard Zinn wrote the text for the back of the CD. Just before he died, novelist Kurt Vonnergut sent his endorsement, "If Jesus were a poet, this is what he would sound like."
In honor of Dan's birthday, our Philadelphia friends' victory, and this great new CD, I thought I'd offer the title poem, Dan's insightful summation of these fifty states. May it inspire us to speak out against this unjust, immoral, illegal war, through our own nonviolent action.
"The Trouble With Our State" By Daniel Berrigan
The trouble with our state was not civil disobedience which in any case was hesitant and rare.
Civil disobedience was rare as kidney stone No, rarer; it was disappearing like immigrant's disease.
You've heard of a war on cancer? There is no war like the plague of media There is no war like routine There is no war like 3 square meals There is no war like a prevailing wind.
It flows softly; whispers don't rock the boat! The sails obey, the ship of state rolls on.
The trouble with our state --we learned only afterward when the dead resembled the living who resembled the dead and civil virtue shone like paint on tin and tin citizens and tin soldiers marched to the common whip
--our trouble the trouble with our state with our state of soul our state of siege-- was Civil Obedience.
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Rev. John Dear
Rev. John Dear is a longtime activist, and author of 35 books on peace and nonviolence, including his most recent book, "They Will Inherit the Earth: Peace and Nonviolence in a Time of Climate Change" (2018). He works with www.campaignnonviolence.org. His other books include: "Thomas Merton, Peacemaker" (2015); "Living Peace: A Spirituality of Contemplation and Action" (2004); "Jesus the Rebel: Bearer of God's Peace and Justice" (2000); "Transfiguration: A Meditation on Transforming Ourselves and Our World" (2007), and his autobiography, "A Persistent Peace: One Man's Struggle for a Nonviolent World" (2008). See more of his work on his website: www.johndear.org
This week, my trouble-making friends and I, after several postponements, were expecting to stand trial for our attempt in Santa Fe last September 26th to pay a visit to Senator Pete Domenici and urge him to sign the "Declaration of Peace," a pledge to help end the U.S. war on Iraq. To aid our case we boldly subpoenaed the good senator, who is up to his ears in problems for his role in the firing of prosecutors. His lawyers are wrangling to keep him out of the courtroom, so our trial has now be postponed again until June 14th in Albuquerque.
But resistance to the war grows and with it our hope. A few weeks ago, the Philadelphia Fourteen, another Declaration-of-Peace group, were acquitted in a similar case. Trapped in an elevator too, for coming to see their senator, the police milled about monitoring their moves. Their verdict gives us hope--if we keep at it, others will be acquitted, and others and others, and the props holding up the lies will come down in a crash. And the war, one day, will end.
I draw hope from another quarter--the tenacious witness of my Jesuit brother, legendary peacemaker Rev. Daniel Berrigan, who turned 86 last week. This summer, a series of his ten best books, including his autobiography, will be republished by Wipf and Stock.
To celebrate his birthday, and his keeping at it all these years, friends have produced an astonishing CD of Dan reciting and reflecting on 25 of his best poems. I wrote the liner notes, Martin Sheen and Howard Zinn wrote the text for the back of the CD. Just before he died, novelist Kurt Vonnergut sent his endorsement, "If Jesus were a poet, this is what he would sound like."
In honor of Dan's birthday, our Philadelphia friends' victory, and this great new CD, I thought I'd offer the title poem, Dan's insightful summation of these fifty states. May it inspire us to speak out against this unjust, immoral, illegal war, through our own nonviolent action.
"The Trouble With Our State" By Daniel Berrigan
The trouble with our state was not civil disobedience which in any case was hesitant and rare.
Civil disobedience was rare as kidney stone No, rarer; it was disappearing like immigrant's disease.
You've heard of a war on cancer? There is no war like the plague of media There is no war like routine There is no war like 3 square meals There is no war like a prevailing wind.
It flows softly; whispers don't rock the boat! The sails obey, the ship of state rolls on.
The trouble with our state --we learned only afterward when the dead resembled the living who resembled the dead and civil virtue shone like paint on tin and tin citizens and tin soldiers marched to the common whip
--our trouble the trouble with our state with our state of soul our state of siege-- was Civil Obedience.
Rev. John Dear
Rev. John Dear is a longtime activist, and author of 35 books on peace and nonviolence, including his most recent book, "They Will Inherit the Earth: Peace and Nonviolence in a Time of Climate Change" (2018). He works with www.campaignnonviolence.org. His other books include: "Thomas Merton, Peacemaker" (2015); "Living Peace: A Spirituality of Contemplation and Action" (2004); "Jesus the Rebel: Bearer of God's Peace and Justice" (2000); "Transfiguration: A Meditation on Transforming Ourselves and Our World" (2007), and his autobiography, "A Persistent Peace: One Man's Struggle for a Nonviolent World" (2008). See more of his work on his website: www.johndear.org
This week, my trouble-making friends and I, after several postponements, were expecting to stand trial for our attempt in Santa Fe last September 26th to pay a visit to Senator Pete Domenici and urge him to sign the "Declaration of Peace," a pledge to help end the U.S. war on Iraq. To aid our case we boldly subpoenaed the good senator, who is up to his ears in problems for his role in the firing of prosecutors. His lawyers are wrangling to keep him out of the courtroom, so our trial has now be postponed again until June 14th in Albuquerque.
But resistance to the war grows and with it our hope. A few weeks ago, the Philadelphia Fourteen, another Declaration-of-Peace group, were acquitted in a similar case. Trapped in an elevator too, for coming to see their senator, the police milled about monitoring their moves. Their verdict gives us hope--if we keep at it, others will be acquitted, and others and others, and the props holding up the lies will come down in a crash. And the war, one day, will end.
I draw hope from another quarter--the tenacious witness of my Jesuit brother, legendary peacemaker Rev. Daniel Berrigan, who turned 86 last week. This summer, a series of his ten best books, including his autobiography, will be republished by Wipf and Stock.
To celebrate his birthday, and his keeping at it all these years, friends have produced an astonishing CD of Dan reciting and reflecting on 25 of his best poems. I wrote the liner notes, Martin Sheen and Howard Zinn wrote the text for the back of the CD. Just before he died, novelist Kurt Vonnergut sent his endorsement, "If Jesus were a poet, this is what he would sound like."
In honor of Dan's birthday, our Philadelphia friends' victory, and this great new CD, I thought I'd offer the title poem, Dan's insightful summation of these fifty states. May it inspire us to speak out against this unjust, immoral, illegal war, through our own nonviolent action.
"The Trouble With Our State" By Daniel Berrigan
The trouble with our state was not civil disobedience which in any case was hesitant and rare.
Civil disobedience was rare as kidney stone No, rarer; it was disappearing like immigrant's disease.
You've heard of a war on cancer? There is no war like the plague of media There is no war like routine There is no war like 3 square meals There is no war like a prevailing wind.
It flows softly; whispers don't rock the boat! The sails obey, the ship of state rolls on.
The trouble with our state --we learned only afterward when the dead resembled the living who resembled the dead and civil virtue shone like paint on tin and tin citizens and tin soldiers marched to the common whip
--our trouble the trouble with our state with our state of soul our state of siege-- was Civil Obedience.
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