The wonderful world of Washington has been hurling rocks of assorted varieties through the windows of our minds these days. We have been bombarded with Reagan rhetoric and hostage hoopla, jellybeans and the annual flood of Cherry Blossom Festival tourists buying T-shirts that say "A Woman's Place Is In The House...And The Senate."
We've watched tension and fear grow in our neighborhood over proposed budget cuts, and seen red and green ribbons for Atlanta's children pop up on lapels and car antennae. We've vigiled at the Capitol for a nuclear arms moratorium and at the State Department for the people of El Salvador. We've witnessed police caravans, sirens blaring, escorting limousines of top-level officials to the George Washington University Hospital to visit a president who survived an assassination attempt. In one week, the circus came to town; the annual Easter egg roll took place on the White House lawn; the administration applauded the first air-strip landing from outer space; and Chia-Chia, the London-import panda bear, beat up Ling-Ling, the Washington Zoo panda he was supposed to impregnate, and was sent back home.
In light of this onslaught, many people ask us, "How do you keep your balance?" The question comes from a recognition that we live in a world fraught with dancers. And so we would like to share from our work at Sojourners those issues that we feel warrant our fullest attention as Christians during these difficult times.
The most pressing issue for us continues to be, as has been reflected in our pages, the nuclear threat. The Reagan administration has resurrected with new intensity the Cod War and is fueling it with increased defense spending. We must continue to offer resistance to its policies based on militarism, machismo, and hats.
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