What are we willing to sacrifice for peace?

A woman arrived very early at the place where I work for a meeting last week, because it's difficult to time things just right when you take the bus. She seemed to me to be the retired sort, with plenty of time on her hands, and she was content to read and pay her bills while she waited for the others participating in her meeting to arrive. She told me that she gave up her car over 4 years ago and takes public transportation because of the war. She said to me, solemnly and in lightly accented English, "It is so horrible, we must pray . . ." and she crossed herself.

Not all of us, especially in our car-centric society, are able to do what she does, but there are some things we might be able to manage. A couple of friends of mine have started a new kind of peace campaign: a petroleum peace offering. They are asking those opposed to the war to commit to not driving one day per week. From their just launched website, http://www.nodriveday.org/:

"They are sacrificing our children's future as they run up unprecedented debts to pay for their wars. They are sacrificing our service men's and women's lives. They are sacrificing the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. They are sacrificing the American values that stand against torture and inhumanity. They are willing to demand all these sacrifices yet lack the moral courage to ask even the smallest sacrifice of ordinary Americans.

As ordinary American citizens we want our leaders and the world to recognize that we are willing to personally sacrifice to bring about a more stable, peaceful and just world. We are willing to sacrifice some of our own comfort and convenience in order to build a better world not only for our children, but for all the world's children.

As President Bush recognized in his state of the Union Address, our demands for oil and other energy resources are creating a threat to our national security and giving rise to serious conflicts in many regions of the world. Oil is currently a prime contributor to conflicts raging from Afghanistan to Nigeria to Nicaragua. Although it is not the sole factor involved, oil undeniably plays an important role in the rising conflict with Iran, the war on terror and our occupation of Iraq. Because of the important role petroleum plays in global conflicts, we believe that changing the way we use our petroleum burning cars is an excellent way to show our leaders and the world that we are willing to sacrifice for peace and justice.

(snip)

To demonstrate our willingness to personally sacrifice for world peace and justice, we have committed to forgo the use of our cars on Tuesdays.

On Tuesdays we will walk, we will ride bicycles, we will take mass transit, if need be we will stay at home, but we will not drive our personal cars.

Beginning on Tuesday, March 20th 2007 (the 4th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq) and continuing on every Tuesday until there is a systematic withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, we will not drive our cars.

We invite all like-minded individuals to join with us in this symbolic act."

There are options for those who can't go without cars on Tuesday, like part day or another day of the week, or even just a conscious awareness that daily activities that we take for granted over here can have devastating effects somewhere else.

We live in interesting times

I had a time warp experience today (well, I guess now it was yesterday). My husband, younger daughter and I all had lunch at Lamb's Cafe downtown. Lamb's Cafe is the oldest restaurant in Salt Lake City, established in 1919. I love eating there because the dark and heavy interior, combined with the old-fashioned booths and tablecloths and even the rack of lifesavers and gum by the register make me feel as if I'm visiting another time.

This feeling was further heightened by our waitress' appearance. She was probably born sometime in the late 80s but had a hair and makeup style that reminded me of the late 50s or early 60s -- okay, reminded me of pictures and films from that time period. I wasn't born until late 1969.

And then I noticed a female patron at a nearby table who wore a long wool grayish skirt and maroon turtleneck sweater and had bang-less, long hair with a little flip to it -- the complete look straight out of the early 1970s. I got a weird feeling and started to look closely at the other patrons to try to make sure that I wasn't in a time warp , but couldn't see any further evidence that I wasn't in the 21st century. I was a little disappointed.

I'm a big fan of history, and I love books and movies that tackle the subject, or even better, feature time travel with a modern person experiencing the excitment of discovering another time first hand.

I was completely glued to my T.V. screen when KUED showed it's original documentary a few years ago about Salt Lake City once upon a time. A huge part of me inexplicably felt very nostalgic for a time period long before I was born.

I wouldn't want to live in another time permanently -- I just want to visit for a while. I wouldn't be able to, as I remarked to my husband during lunch, have lived as a woman in any era other than now.

I couldn't handle the repression and lack of control over my own destiny. I would go crazy if I were forced into the drudgery of endless childbearing, childraising, and housekeeping. I would resent the inability to pursue my inner world and the lack of time to develop my mind. I would chafe at the lack of opportunities for education and career that would be denied me.

I'd probably even be climbing the walls being a grown woman 25 or 30 years ago, which while not as extreme as far early times, were difficult enough for women. Those were the early days of transition from a male-centered world to one that looked to be heading toward equality, and the backlash could be intense, especially in the wilds of the work force.

My husband made a good point that there are women in many parts of the world that still don't have the lives that women here in the U.S. and most of the 1st world countries do. I have a lot of people to thank for the freedom in my life -- my foremothers in the suffragette movement, those feminist pioneers who challenged the traditional roles, those that fought for my reproductive rights -- and the men that supported them.

I want to thank all those who have made the life I've had possible. Thank you, with all my being. I hope that I can continue to work towards these things for others that come after me.

I want to put my gratitude out there now, because it seems to me that we are on the brink of a cultural war in this country. I hope I'm wrong, I hope I'm mistaken in my reading of current events. If I'm right, on the one hand of this cultural war will be those who want to move the human race forward, to continue our evolution to an equality based society, a more humane and just society, a society that is much more sane and nurturing of others and the planet that sustains us; on the other hand will be those that want to take us back to a time when human roles were limited and narrowly confined on the basis skin color or type of genitalia, a time when superstition and greed ruled. Not all of those people are bad people, many of them are probably just afraid to make the changes they'll have to make if we move forward and find it a lot easier to fightto keep things the same or the way they used to be.

I think we can win this cultural war if we have enough time and will to do it. I've seen a lot in the past few years to make me optimistic that we have what it takes.

One thing is certain, this is an interesting time to live. It's a lot like that first paragraph in "A Tale of Two Cities" :

"IT WAS the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair . . ."

In progress

This blog should be considered "In Progress". I'd like to do some work on it before I start posting on a regular basis.

Jen's Green Journal - another version

I love blogging at livejournal, where I've had the original "Jen's Green Journal" ( htt[://green-jenni.livejournal.com ) for nearly two years now. Live Journal does have it's limitations, so I thought I'd try out Blogger for a bit. I don't intend to shut down the original "Jen's Green Journal" at this point -- I'm going to see how things go.