Peace and Nonviolence
It was quite a busy year for the policy team at Sojourners, and we can already hear the challenges and opportunities of 2009 calling for our attention.
My name is Omer Goldman. I am 19 years old. I am one of the Shministim. I need your help.
It's hard to believe that people all around the world are learning about my 19-year-old son Yuval. I know that I'm proud of him. I just never expected the world to be proud of him. As I write this, Yuval's in jail, serving his second term. We don't know how or when this will end.
I've been thinking a lot about courage. See that fresh-faced, bold young woman on the right? Her name is Raz Bar-David Varon. She's an 18-year-old Israeli who just graduated from 12th grade. And as I write this, she's sitting in jail in Tel Aviv because she refuses to join the Israeli army.
If no one speaks out, the violence is going to continue. Someone has to give voice to what is hidden.
Life is easier in black and white, when things are clearly right or clearly wrong. We tend not to like the gray very much. It was certainly easier for me to hard-headedly disapprove of all war, including those who took part in it. But, working at an orphanage in India, I met Chad, a young man fresh from Iraq with an American flag tattoo, and he muddled up my clarity.
A short thought to follow up on Valerie Elverton-Dixon's tribute to Gayle Williams, the aid worker gunned down by Taliban militants last week. As Valerie noted:
She worked for an organization called SERVE Afghanistan -