peace action

[Guest guest]

Namah Shivaya,

 

hope I'm not out of line to fwd this.

 

In Amma's grace,

premarupa

 

Can you spare an envelope, some rice and $1.06 for peace...read on

 

---Rice to Iraq [from Quaker meetings]

--

 

There is a grassroots campaign underway to protest war in Iraq in a

simple, but potentially powerful way.

 

Place 1/2 cup uncooked rice in a small plastic bag (a snack-size bag

or sandwich bag work fine). Squeeze out excess air and seal the bag.

Wrap it in a piece of paper onwhich you have written "If your enemies

are hungry, feed them. Romans 12:20. Please send this rice to the

people of Iraq; do not attack them."

 

Place the paper and bag of rice in an envelope(either a letter-sized

or padded mailing envelope--both are the same cost to mail) and

address them to:

 

President George Bush White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW

Washington, DC 20500

 

Attach $1.06 in postage. (Three 37-cent stamps equal $1.11.)

 

Drop this in the mail TODAY. It is important to act NOW so that

President Bush gets the letters ASAP.

 

In order for this protest to be effective, there must be hundreds of

thousands of such rice deliveries to the White House. We can do this

if you each forward this message to your friends and family.

 

There is a positive history of this protest! In the 1950s, Fellowship

of Reconciliation began a similar protest, which is credited with

influencing President Eisenhower against attacking China. Read on:

 

"In the mid-1950s, the pacifist Fellowship of Reconciliation,

learning of famine in the Chinese mainland, launched a 'Feed Thine

Enemy' campaign. Members and friends mailed thousands of little bags

of rice to the White House with a tag quoting the Bible, "If thine

enemy hunger, feed him." As far as anyone knew for more than ten

years, the campaign was an abject failure. The President did not

acknowledge receipt of the bags publicly; certainly, no rice was ever

sent to China.

 

"What nonviolent activists only learned a decade later was that the

campaign played a significant, perhaps even determining role in

preventing nuclear war. Twice while the campaign was on, President

Eisenhower met with the Joint Chiefs of Staff to consider U.S.

options in the conflict with China over two islands, Quemoy and

Matsu. The generals twice recommended the use of nuclear weapons.

 

President Eisenhower each time turned to his aide and asked how many

little bags of rice had come in. When told they numbered in the tens

of thousands, Eisenhower told the generals that as long as so many

Americans were expressing active interest in having the U.S. feed the

Chinese, he certainly wasn't going to consider using nuclear weapons

against them."

 

--

Lauranne

 

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Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the

winds long to play with your hair.

- Khalil Gibran, The Prophet

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------ End of Forwarded Message