Re-dedication of Arlington Southwest on MLK Day

At sunrise on MLK Day, about 50 people came together to re-dedicate Arlington Southwest as a memorial to the consequences of war. The tombstones face into the morning light and produce a startlingly strong light effect when reflecting the sunrise. Joe Goldman first read the names of Texans who had died in Iraq subsequent to the initial dedication on Veterans Day 2007. Then he read excerpts from Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speech “BEYOND VIETNAM: A Time to Break Silence”:

As Arnold Toynbee says : "Love is the ultimate force that makes for the saving choice of life and good against the damning choice of death and evil. Therefore the first hope in our inventory must be the hope that love is going to have the last word."

We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked and dejected with a lost opportunity. The "tide in the affairs of men" does not remain at the flood; it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is deaf to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residue of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words: "Too late." There is an invisible book of life that faithfully records our vigilance or our neglect. "The moving finger writes, and having writ moves on..." We still have a choice today; nonviolent coexistence or violent co-annihilation.

We must move past indecision to action. We must find new ways to speak for peace … throughout the developing world -- a world that borders on our doors. If we do not act we shall surely be dragged down the long dark and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality, and strength without sight.

Now let us begin. Now let us rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter -- but beautiful -- struggle for a new world.

Peace Bus Spreads message at NH Primary

NH Peace Action Presidential Primary
January 7, 2008

SALEM, N.H. - Paul Schaefer of Alpine talks softly while standing in front of The Woodbury School, Sunday afternoon. He is not chanting loudly or carrying a sign. Yet this Vietnam veteran is an anti-war protester who has traveled from the Big Bend area of Texas to advocate peace.

Schaefer and Jim Goodnow, also a Vietnam veteran, are part of the Yellow Rose Peace Bus and are members of the Big Bend Chapter of Veterans for Peace. They are volunteering with New Hampshire Peace Action and the American Friends Service Committee, traversing New Hampshire during these days before the Jan. 8 primary - the nation’s first.

“The group has three objectives - get candidates to commit to withdraw from Iraq within one year; use diplomacy with Iran and use funds that would be used in the war back home and in reconstruction of Iraq,” Schaefer said.

As for becoming an activist, Schaefer said it’s been in the past four years that he has gotten more involved.

But, Schaefer, who was in the Navy during Vietnam, said he didn’t support that war, “even when I was in it.”

Since 2003, he said, he’s seen the country go into “an attack mode. Personally, I consider the war in Iraq an illegal war. A criminal war. So … I’m doing my part.”

The Yellow Rose of Texas bus is a traveling billboard, with steer horns in front.

“It’s Texas-style,” Schaefer said. “We’re trying to do it in a big way.”