The dear lady that passed on in our building left behind some wonderful gifts–we were apparently like-minded, but she had barriers up and wouldn’t let people in.  I knew that she had been hurt to put up those boundaries, so I gave her that space to feel protected.  It’s a loss, however, as I have learned she had a B.S. degree and loved to read the same kinds of books I love to read.

One of those books, The Birth House by Ami McKay, had me reading it all weekend.  It’s rare that I read a book through, but since I have an interest in midwifery, I had to find out “what happened next” in the book.  As one of the commenters on the Powell’s website said, I would have liked a little more complexity to the main characters.  There’s something that’s nagging at me but I can’t bring it up to the front of my brain right now–

In the book, the main character, Dora Rare, eventually marries a man who is a conscientious objector.  Archer is the son of a wealthy widow and his objecting to the war brings scorn from a group of the women, who give him a white feather to show the world he’s a *coward*.  (the book goes on to portray him as a drunk who forces himself upon Dora–another issue with the book is that there are no men who are main characters who are good guys–this bothers me greatly.)

I had forgotten about the  custom of pinning white feathers on men during the wars…

…and then I thought of how the white feather was used.  I think that would be a powerful statement–putting a white feather on one’s clothing to show the world that you were objecting to war.  More powerful, perhaps, than the peace sign?

And as is stated in the book, the wearing of the feather brings about such controversy.  Why?

Why is it so difficult to live in peace?  From my parents’ generation (WWII) to my generation (Vietnam) to my children’s generation (Iraq, Afghanistan)…none of us have known a time without war.  Living in such times makes it so much harder to even grasp what a world would be without war…to actually know peace…

Why should one feel guilty or a coward for wanting peace?

I used to think that way before my own metamorphosis, but came to  see how badly the conscientious objectors were treated–how the youth of the Vietnam era went to Canada and were told by their parents that they would turn them over to authorities if they tried to come back home.  It took courage to leave anyway.  Or how they were beaten, hosed down with water, arrested, etc.  I now see standing up against war as an act of courage.

Even now, it takes courage to speak out against war.  You’re viewed as unpatriotic.

And with every holiday being tied to the military, it gets harder and harder for those advocating peace to speak out.

And one never hears about the Quakers, the Church of the Brethren, or the Amish–the religions who do not believe in war….it’s only the religions who somehow have managed to link Good Christians with the military that are promoted.

And the question that they cannot answer is:  Who would Jesus bomb?