Father Tom
Wed Apr 02, 2008 at 12:08:34 AM PDT
I was prompted to write this after reading a story about some peace activists being arrested over at Counterpunch, link here,
http://www.counterpunch.com/...
entitled "Fracturing the Peace to End the War." It was written by an activist named Jeff Leys, who had done something similar as a young man, was arrested and spent some time in jail. It is an excellent article and I encourage you to read it. But this essay is about another activist I know personally, named Father Tom.
Shortly after I got back from Viet-Nam I became somewhat active in the anti-war movement of the time, but was a little surprised when the TV news reported a story about three peace activists who had climbed the fence at our local air force base, Tinker AFB in Midwest City, OK, where my folks lived and I grew up. I was surprised because it seemed such a futile gesture and carried a heavy penalty. Once you become a convicted felon, ordinary things become much more difficult.
Twenty years later, while spending time in a monastery in Texas, I met a man called Father Tom. He was an Episcopal priest, iirc, and spent most of his time in San Francisco running a soup kitchen for the poor out of his van. He had family in Texas and would stay with us during his visits to see them.
To say that he was a strange old dude would oversimplify, maybe the word should be "complex." He was quite gay, but had an ex-wife and kids, and cared deeply for them. He'd been diagnosed with prostate cancer, and his "cure" was to eat at least one whole clove of garlic with each meal. Downwind of him, you could smell the garlic scent that emanated from him from fifty feet. The last I heard his cure had failed, and he passed away, shortly after his ex-wife died, also from cancer.
Once, during a meal at the monastery, he made the comment that he'd been arrested and jailed for protesting the Viet-Nam war, and mentioned Tinker AFB. I asked him about it, and sure enough he was one of those who had climbed the fence. He didn't speak much more about it, but said that the heaviest price had been paid by his father, who the IRS went after as a way of punishing Father Tom. I worked for the IRS as a Revenue Agent for a couple of years, way back when, and I know for a fact that an IRS audit is a terribly stressful event, literally for all concerned. Father Tom said it shortened his Dad's life by many years. Just in the short time I worked as an agent, two of my "audit clients" died during the course of the audit.
Father Tom was a tough old dude, I saw him take a shower with a garden hose outside one chilly winter morning. He also seemed to be a genuinely good and caring man.
In the Counterpunch story, the protestors had stained the carpet of a Catholic Church with their fake blood, and face a potential sentence of five years in jail for their "crime against property." Somehow that seems too harsh, it is neither a good nor caring penalty, but is probably what they will get, given the attitude of the courts. It's a pity the poor Iraquis can't prosecute the US for crimes against their property, and their humanity.
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