Can Peacemakers Have Humor and Hope?
Valerie Weaver-Zercher The laughter struck me on a Tuesday evening, around 9:30 p.m., as I sat at my desk and addressed envelopes to George W. Bush, Colin Powell, Donald Rumsfeld, and Condoleezza Rice. Inside were petitions signed by several hundred people who had gathered at the state capitol in Harrisburg on Sunday to protest the U.S. military strikes in Afghanistan. A group of us from area churches had begun planning several weeks after September 11, knowing that although our government hadn t done anything yet, it was preparing for massive military action. Sure enough, as we sat down to lunch about an hour before leaving for the peace rally on October 7, the president announced the first air strikes. Talk about timing. We held the rally, impressed with a new sense of the importance of our work. Some 300 people gathered on the front steps of the capitol. Reporters clipped microphones to our jackets. Speakers talked about the political relevance of Christ s way of nonviolence. That e
