We are the generation that stands between the fires:
behind us the flame and smoke
that rose from Auschwitz and from Hiroshima;
before us the nightmare of a Flood of Fire,
the flame and smoke that consume all Earth.
It is our task to make from fire not an all-consuming blaze
but the light in which we see each other fully.
All of us different,
all of us bearing One Spark.
We light these fires to see more clearly
that the Earth and all who live as part of it
are not for burning.
We light these fires to see more clearly
the rainbow in our many-colored faces.
Bless is the One within the many.
Blessed are the Many who make one.
-Arthur
Waskow
People came to the Summer Peacebuilding Institute
this year from the fires of East Timor, Rwanda, Nagaland, Abkhazia, Sri
Lanka, Ireland, Somalia, Palestine and Serbia. Some arrived here exhausted
from their work; one person came out of months of hiding; some had to
leave their home countries to get visas elsewhere to come; one woman escaped
the bombing of her city and arrived here traumatized and afraid.
But they came, everyone different, all bearing
the Divine Spark, and they lit the fire that allowed us to see each other
more clearly. We watched with awe as the three East Timorese communicated
so passionately the struggle of their people to the United Nations General
Assembly; we grieved with a participant who heard his brother had been
arrested and disappeared; and we watched as a Georgian and an Abkhazian,
women from neighboring but estranged regions in the Caucasus, became friends.
We marveled as two bright, young, university students
from Vietnam so quickly absorbed new language and ideas; we listened intently
to the native wisdom of a young man from Nagaland; and we cried with an
Indonesian pastor who returned to his home during the first session because
his wife was seriously injured in an automobile accident.
We sensed the trauma and uncertainly of the Serbian
teacher who suddenly found herself in a country that was at war with her
country; we struggled with the French-speaking Africans as they attempted
to make English sentences that others could understand; and we saw ourselves
more clearly when differences of opinion erupted among participants from
living in neighboring regions.
Conflict resolution is not an easy task. Conflict transformation
is even harder, as we learned from being together. When 146 participants
and 21 instructors and staff from 45 countries live and study together
for two months, real-life differences emerge. Some felt the voices of
women were often marginalized. Some felt the SPI instructors were not
skilled in handling the conflicts that arose in classes. Some felt there
was not enough safety for everyone to speak. Some wanted to see more diversity
among the teaching staff.
But as participants left SPI 99 and returned home,
the sparks lit here were carefully carried to other regions of the Earth.
Even now new fires are being lit:\
