The year was 1964. I, like millions of Americans believed that the United States had taken the proper path when they escalated the fighting in Vietnam. After all, the president informed us that one of our ships had been attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin. Communism had to be stopped somewhere. Why not in Vietnam?

That same year, I was a graduate student at Penn State University. I lived in a rooming house with mostly undergraduates. There was a young man living there who openly opposed the war. I thought he was a little weird, but something about him began to prick my conscience. You see, I had been raised as a pacifist. About a year later, during Holy Week, I made a decision to become an active participant in the anti-war movement. I refused to pay my telephone tax as a protest, and I also participated in a number of peace vigils on the campus where I taught. At one point, I decided to participate in a peace march in Washington. That day changed my views of war permanently. I came to believe that there is no such thing as a just war. I have opposed all wars since that time.

On October 25, 2003 a peace march was again held in Washington, D.C. This one was to protest the continuing occupation of Iraq. The message was to bring our young soldiers home. Physical limitations prevented me from attending that event. I was so pleased when my daughter decided to go. She invited her brother to go along, and they both went to protest the continuing occupation of Iraq. It is apparent to me that they have also decided to follow the path to non-violence that I have long traveled. Indeed, the torch has been passed to a new generation.

How many more generations will come and go before we realize that violence only begets more violence? How many more must die in wars dreamed up by greedy egomaniacs, all of them chicken hawks? The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind. The answer is blowing in the wind.

Copyright © Jay D Weaver - November 1, 2003