125 people address issues ranging from hunger and water to terrorism and war at peace conference
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Solving the world's problems was foremost in the minds of 125 people gathered for a Conference for a Nation of Peacemakers.
From hunger and water to terrorism and war, these community activists, church members or interested citizens were determined to find local means to impact pressing issues of the day. Framing the underlying problems as stemming from social injustices, the conference featured small-group brainstorming sessions on topics such as economy, the role of the military and foreign policy.
After hours of generating ideas and creating consensus, with participants rotating among topics, the group reconvened as a body. Together, they targeted future activities based on ideas ranging from youth outreach and letter writing campaigns to boycotts and increasing voter turnout.
Carol Still was part of a committee of 18 people who organized the event. Still, who has been active in various peace movements since the 1970s, heralded the meeting as a huge stride to promoting and educating about peace locally. With attendees coming from Lake City, East Jordan, Charlevoix and Leelanau County in addition to Traverse City, locally covers a lot of territory.
"It was awesome because, number one, the energy of everyone and all of those groups," said the Traverse City resident. "The moderators were kept so busy because they couldn't keep up with all the ideas."
Still also pointed to a cross section of attendees as a very exciting aspect of the day.
"This was not just anti-war but it was a peace and justice outlook," she noted. "That's important because most of the issues are about injustice. You can't have peace without justice."
Four area church peace groups sponsored the event: Grand Traverse District United Methodist Peace Center, Episcopal Peace Fellowship, Pax Christi and the Unitarian Universalist International Center for Peace and Justice.
Drawn from these churches as well as secular organizations, organizers of the Conference for a Nation of Peacemakers met over six months. With the Iraqi war underway, they were spurred on by the basic question of what kind of nation and world will they live in. They generated the conference to not only address this question but to create actions that support their beliefs.
"One of the major plans is to follow though with the ideas," Still said. "We brought all the ideas together and one focus that I worked on was a plan to have a place that will be an ongoing center point for peace in the community."
Other topics touched on at the meeting included the United Nations, local and national media issues, the local economy and activist burnout. For many who have devoted years or decades of their lives to effecting change, keeping their spirits and enthusiasm high is sometimes a challenge.
"This energizes us to go back into our community and talk about peace issues," said Rev. Edrye Maurer, a pastor at the Lake City United Methodist Church. "I hope to have more courage to speak to my congregation about peace."
Hailing from what she terms a patriotic area, Maurer promotes dialogue in her small town in small ways: posting a Wage Peace sign on the church lawn, discussing peace in small group settings and weaving the topic into her sermons.
"I'm a peace advocate and I think in our culture right now, peace is not popular," Maurer noted. "Lake City is a very patriotic place and some people do not view peace and patriotism as coming from the same hemisphere - I think they are pieces of the same cloth."
Patrick Scott of Rapid City said stories of starvation and violence in the Sudan prompted his participation in the conference. Already concerned about issues of peace and justice, Scott was aghast at National Public Radio reports of bloodshed and hunger in this area. He saw it as a startling contrast to his peaceful, relatively affluent life.
"I was thinking that we live well, I'm working class poor living a life those people would envy," he said. "It always comes down to some guy or some woman trying to survive in horrible conditions."