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March 2003 QuakerShaker
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Editor, QuakerShaker
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Jun 15, 2003 10:51 PDT
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Posted June 2003
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QUAKERSHAKER, March, 2003
Newsletter of the Yellow Springs Religious Society of Friends
“If you don’t violate someone’s human rights some of the time, you
probably aren’t doing your job,” said an anonymous United States
government official quoted in The Washington Post. . . .
There is an old expression that the first casualty of war is the
truth. If that is indeed the case, then the second casualty is respect
for and protection of human rights.
. . . . It has recently been reported in disturbing detail by The
Washington Post that national security officials have admitted
employing cruelty and harsh techniques, perhaps amounting to torture,
against suspected terrorists in areas of U. S.-occupied Afghanistan,
and perhaps elsewhere overseas.
In Afghanistan, captured al Qaeda operatives and Taliban commanders
kept in a secret Central Intelligence Agency interrogation center are
allegedly kept standing or kneeling in painful positions for hours,
beaten and deprived of sleep. And those wounded during capture are
selectively denied their painkillers.
Some captives who still refuse to cooperate are reportedly being
turned over . . . to brutal foreign intelligence services with
documented histories of torture. Allegedly prisoners have been handed
to Jordan, Egypt, Morocco and even Syria with a list of questions the
CIA wants answered.
One U.S. government official directly involved . . . was reported by
The Washington Post to have said, “We don’t kick the [expletive] out of
them. We send them to other countries so they can kick the [expletive]
out of them.”
. . . Amnesty has not yet been able to verify all these specific
allegations, but we have received disturbingly similar reports and
currently have a team in Afghanistan investigating these reports and
other concerns.
...from a fundraising letter from Executive Director William Schulz of
Amnesty International/USA
1. Calendar
2. Query for March
3. Extracts from a Letter from Irwin Abrams
4. A Letter to the Grandmothers in Iraq
5. Some Discussions among Yellow Springs Quakers, circa 1950
6. A Note from Lorena Hyde
7. Minutes of the Business Meeting, February 2
Quakershaker deadline for April is March 23. Give information to Bill
Houston (email: htul-@antioch-college.edu) or Irwin Abrams, or email
to Quake-@aol.com
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1. Calendar
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Always:
Sundays: 8:30 a.m., Meeting for Worship, at Rockford
10:00 a.m. First Day School (Sept-May), at Rockford
11:00 a.m. Meeting for Worship, at Rockford
Wednesdays: 7:00 a.m. Meeting for Worship, at Rockford
Saturdays: noon - 1 pm Peace Vigil, SW corner of Limestone St. &
Xenia Ave.
Sunday, March 2, noon: Potluck lunch before Monthly Meeting for
Business, at Rockford
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2. Query for Third Month:
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Are love and unity fostered among you? Do you manifest a forgiving
spirit and a care for the reputation of others? If
differences threaten harmony among your members is prompt action taken
in a spirit of meekness and love? Do you visit one another frequently?
Do you keep in touch with inactive and distant members?
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3. A Letter from Irwin
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In January I went to Oslo and Stockholm, where I attended the ceremonies
for Jimmy Carter in Oslo and did interviews in both
cities as part of my consultations with the Fetzer Institute with regard
to their explorations of a world program furthering awareness of
leadership in Love and Forgiveness. I have found a growing literature on
Forgiveness. If you have run across any titles or individual examples, I
would appreciate your sending them to me.
At the Nobel Committee banquet on the evening of the award ceremony for
Jimmy Carter, I asked if I could take his picture. I had sent him a
copy of my new book on the Nobel Peace Prize and also a copy of my
letter nominating him last January. When I identified myself, he
graciously got up from the table, called Rosalynn over, and the result
was a photo of the three of us. I am eligible to nominate as a
university history professor, and I have nominated Jimmy Carter
every year since l991.
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4. A Letter (from Margaret and Art Landes’s daughter-in-law) to Iraqi
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Grandmothers: The letter below was written by Daphne Muse. She is the
wife of David Landes who grew up in Yellow Springs, the son of Margaret
and Art Landes who were very active in the meeting . For those of us who
remember David as a student in the First-Day School, it’s hard to
believe he’s now a grandfather. Daphne’s letter was written February 7.
Dear Grandmothers in Iraq:
I awakened this morning and said my mission for this day will remain
incomplete until I write a letter to the grandmothers in Iraq. My
grandchildren live with their parents in another city, but are close
enough for me to see them a couple of times a month.
It’s such a reassuring feeling, when their warm and magical brown hands
touch my aging skin, plant sweet popsicle kisses on my face or tell me
about some new discovery they’ve made about the wonders of life. My
granddaughter is almost ten and I still call her my fudge brownie with
the peach face.
My grandson soon will be five and I call him Dr. Yagimoto. Where the
name came from I have no idea. But he laughs uproariously every time I
call him by that name. Their term of endearment for me is DeNana, a term
I hope to hear them call me for decades yet to come.
But on days like today, as the intensity of the war drums escalates, my
spirit constricts and I find myself breathing less steadily, holding my
heart in a place that feels so uncertain, uncomfortable and
disconcerting. Like me, I can imagine how very much you cherish precious
moments with your own grandchildren and how you too desire to journey
along as far as you can into what you hope will be a long and fulfilling
future for them.
Birthdays, graduations, marriages and other major rites of passage loom
large in my mind, as I sometimes envision them in their futures. My
granddaughter wants to be a pediatrician and an artist. My grandson has
yet to speak what he wants to be, but certainly has the makings of a
great thespian.
Just as I hope one day your grandchildren will come to know the works of
great American writers and artists like Langston Hughes,Elizabeth
Catlett, Jacob Lawrence and Gwendolyn Brooks, I hope my grandchildren
will explore the works of celebrated Iraqi poets and artists including
Sami Mahdi, Suad Al-Attar, Abdul Wahab Al-Bayati and Abdul-Raheem Saleh
Al-Raheem.
And like I’m sure you do, I work so diligently to insure that indeed
there will be a real and peace-filled future for our grandchildren to
fulfill their dreams.
To rock and read with them; listen as their imaginations create new
worlds and hear them ask “why, how and when” delight me. It’s on the
wings of that delight that I continue to climb out of the depths of my
weariness, uncertainty and fear. But this pending war with your country
may well rob you and me of a future for and with our grandchildren.
I so want you to understand that there are millions of other
grandmothers in America who absolutely have no desire to carry the blood
of you or your grandchildren on their hands. And we make every effort
possible to teach our grandchildren how to stand in their power, and
honor their truth respectfully and with integrity.
While I understand that human life is fraught with complexities, beating
down another to gain power is an ill gotten gain and certainly no
victory. We understand that our codes of behavior have so much to do
with the way we participate in teaching our grandchildren to act in
terms of resolving conflict in their own lives.
I claim no special wisdom, but only seek the council of my ancestors,
and other grandmothers in Iraq and around the world, to do all in our
power to sustain these precious lives that have been created to carry
forward the best in the legacies of our countries.
So as you embrace your grandchildren this evening, share a story about a
wise ancestor or take them for a walk to witness the beauty and
brilliance of the night sky, know that there are millions of
grandmothers in America who hope that you and your grandchildren will
share many more stories and walks surrounded by gardens filled with the
scent of thousands of blossoming plants and the beauty of endless
star-filled nights.
Go Well,
Daphne Muse
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5. 50 Years Ago
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Quaker Discussions on Scientific Inquiry, Democracy and Values, 50 years
ago:
In Antiochiana (the college’s archives) Lorena Hyde found a group of
statements written by five members of our meeting, undated but probably
written in 1950 soon after we became a full monthly meeting. Lorena made
copies and put them in our meeting’s archives. We’ll print one such
statement each month until they run out.
They address the questions:
Are there religious groups in harmony with scientific inquiry and
democracy?
How can one find for himself [sic} the most important values in
life - and experiment in living by them?
What ideas do Quakers have about these questions?
The preamble says that “a group of Yellow Springs Friends have been
meeting to work through their answers to these inquiries. While in broad
agreement, we have some differences of interpretation.
We have written out of our experiences and understanding as individuals
and as members of the local Friends Meeting. Each of us will be glad to
talk with anyone having questions about these brief statements.” Here’s
the one by Arthur E. Morgan (father-in-law of our current member Jane,
grandfather of Lee, no relation to Ross and Mary):
Only free inquiry is true inquiry. If one feels that his inquiry must
lead to a preconceived belief or conclusion then it is not true inquiry,
but a process for quieting doubt and of fortifying present belief. I
hold actual freedom of inquiry to be essential. It means much to me that
the Society of Friends will receive into its fellowship a person with
that conviction.
Different people hold the word “God” with great emotional loyalty, but
with widely contrasting meanings. I have felt that for myself the
emotional satisfaction which may come from loyalty to a haloed word
might make me less sensitive in seeking the source of light, truth and
strength, and might give me a feeling of having already found what I am
seeking. I am glad that the Society of Friends will receive into its
fellowship one who in that respect is only a seeker.
Freedom of inquiry should not result in lack of deep concern for the
possibilities and the conduct of life. Unless one believes that life is
inherently and necessarilymeaningless, dilettantism, or focussing
attention on immediate objectives of pleasure or profit, to the near
exclusion of concern over long time issues, is not justified. It is
characteristic of the Society of Friends that its members are strongly
concerned with overall values and possibilities.
Any serious inquiry into the conduct of life compels the conviction that
no man lives to himself, but that we all are members of the common
family of mankind, and of all life, and that we should order our lives
in accord with that conviction. Friends hold that attitude and in
general strive to live by it, with varying degrees of effectiveness.
There is a tendency for men in general to take their opinions upon the
authority of others, or to base them upon conscious reasoning. The
Friends, to a greater degree than most religious groups, recognize a
third source of authority. There are processes of the mind and spirit,
by many Friends referred to as the voice of
God within, and by others as the natural process of intuition, that have
been too little regarded. The custom of Friends of giving the best
possible consideration to a problem and then of letting it rest until a
clear judgment or “opening” appears, is a great contribution to the
process of living.
I have a conviction that in varying degrees there are in people resource
of good intent, aspiration and brotherhood which will respond to an
attitude of good will and a spirit of brotherhood. This leads Friends to
rely on good will rather than on force and violence in human relations.
Peace will not come to the world by violence or chiefly by legislation,
but by steadily growing experience of brotherhood between man and man.
In this conviction the Friends have hold of a great, and greatly
important, truth.
Among numerous applications of this attitude, it is the custom of
Friends in their business meetings not to undertake to prevail by
majority vote, but to rely upon consensus of opinion. Except as there is
substantial unanimity, action is not taken.
By and large these ways of Friends are expressions of the general
conviction that if men and women will keep mind and spirit free from
arbitrary commitments, remain open and sensitive to light from any
source, and do their best to live according to the light that they have,
sharing the common lot of men, the way will increasingly be open to
them. I am glad to associate with people holding such convictions, even
though beliefs on religious and secular matters may vary greatly.
Don’t miss the next exciting installment, to be printed in the April
QuakerShaker!
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6. A Note from Lorena Hyde About Books You Can Borrow:
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Recently I re-read “The Story of Quakerism Through 3 Centuries” by
Elfrida Vipont, 2nd edition published in 1960. It is a highly readable
and comprehensive history of Quakerism in one volume, now out of print.
This is only one book of interest to Quakers on 2 shelves of books in
our house.
Carl & I are willing to lend books to individuals who are interested. If
interest in this offer is expressed, perhaps we could print a list of
what we have which could be posted in the Meeting Library.
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7. Minutes of Monthly Meeting for Business, February , 2003
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Yellow Springs Friends met for business at the meetinghouse on February
2, 2003. Present were Diane Chiddister, Peg Champney, David Hyde, Irwin
Abrams, Joan Brucker, Kay Hollister, Dick Eastman, Carl Hyde, Lorena
Hyde, Cindy Butler-Jones, Ken Champney, Jean Putnam, and Bill Houston.
The meeting opened in silent worship, which included prayerful
consideration of the second query on prayer and meditation.
1. Minutes.
The recording clerk read the minutes from the January 12, 2003 meeting
for business. A correction of punctuation was noted.
2. Transfer of Membership Request from Martha Hyde.
Martha Hyde has requested transfer of her membership from Yellow Springs
Monthly Meeting to Brooklyn, NY, Monthly Meeting. Martha's family has
found Brooklyn Monthly Meeting to be a good fit for their family.
Friends approved.
3. Request from the Attorney Representing Bill and Barbara Preis.
A Springfield attorney has contacted Yellow Springs Friends Meeting to
inquire whether the Meeting would assume oversight of the trust
established by Bill and Barbara Preis.
Irwin Abrams will speak with Paul Wagner regarding his role and and
intention relative to the trust, and also with Bill and Barbara.
Friends expressed support for Bill and Barbara's intentions, and find
the need for further information.
4. Request for Short Term Financial Help.
The clerk was contacted recently with a request for short term aid in
the amount of $ 70 from a man recently released from prison. There was
confusion regarding the ability of the meeting to respond to such
requests. Friends expressed the need to explore the connection of
requesters to Friends and Friends' organizations. Membership and
Pastoral Care has a fund to provide help upon written request and
consideration of the request. Friends agreed that the Treasurer should
advise that requests be submitted in writing via mail for consideration.
Membership and Pastoral Care will also consider immediate needs between
meeting dates.
5. Letter from Lynn Danforth.
Lynn Danforth recently attended Yellow Springs Friends Meeting for
Worship. She wrote to express her regards, a connection to the family
of Elise and Kenneth Boulding, and to donate $ 20 to the meeting.
Friends accepted with gratitude.
6. Letter from Roger Dreisbach-Williams.
The clerk read a letter from Roger Dreisbach-Williams regarding his
membership request of 35 years ago. Roger has sent a check in the
amount of $736.39 from the proceeds of a life insurance policy that was
de-mutualized. Friends accepted with gratitude.
7. The March, 2003 meeting for business will be held March 2, 2003 at
the meetinghouse.
The meeting closed in silent worship.
Submitted,
Deb Kociszewski, Recording Clerk
Yellow Springs Religious Society of Friends
PO Box 45
Yellow Springs, OH 45387
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