Saturday November 1 was All Saints Day.
Every first and third Saturday since Fall of 2003, a small Benedictines for Peace demonstration has taken place in one of the deepest reddish districts in the nation, but yesterday marked the end of our vigil.
In the earliest months of the Witnesses for Peace, estimated support for the war, based on the actions of passing motorists, was probably 70% hostile to the message, similar to the local voting percentage gathered by George W. Bush.
We have truly felt a dramatic turn in the opinions of the Bush policy, where yesterday there was not one single instance of disagreement with our proclaimed stance.
No cussings, nobody gave us "the finger"...plenty of peace signs and friendly waves.
While NOBODY wants to jinx the election, it has been decided that President-elect Obama will quickly draw "Bush's wrong war" to a conclusion.
I'm twenty miles away from the county seat, was oblivious to the actions of some of my former college teachers, and joined the sisters after an episode appeared in the local newspaper.
Soldier upset over protesters
Sister Mary McGehee said she didn't know what to expect when she saw a man clearly upset over her and her fellow Benedictine nuns' protest of the war in Iraq approach them, reach out and grab a sign suggesting peace not war and rip it to shreds.
The man, later identified as Johnny Wood, a U.S. Army veteran who spent 17 months in Iraq as a gunner for the Arkansas 39th Infantry Brigade, later told Cullman police he "just lost it" when he pulled into the Town Square Shopping Center Saturday afternoon and saw the group of women holding signs protesting the war.
A passersby, who reportedly witnessed the sign snatching incident, called police fearing the confrontation might escalate. The nuns, however, said later they had no intention of filing charges against the man, whom they said was clearly suffering inside as a result of his experiences in Iraq.
"When I first saw him, he walked straight and hard to Debbie (Williams), grabbed her sign and ripped it apart. He screamed something like, "Why are you doing this? Who are you? or something to that effect," Sister McGehee said. "He told us he had been in Iraq and that 35 of his friends had died there. Here is a man who faced the ultimate and the amount of suffering he has inside and the amount of suffering being experienced by those in Iraq is unimaginable to me."
Typical of all news reports, the article had many factual errors, and the story of the upset soldier was really an indictment of the lack of treatment for PSTD, which as I understand was quietly arranged by follow-up efforts and consultations with the soldiers family. Healing is as much part of the mission as conversations with the public.
While there never was a repeat of that physical incident, pro-war public opinion was still very vocal when I assumed guard dog duty with the sisters. It has been well over a year since I've had to confront an irate war hawk.
In fact, more often than confrontation, many times a motorist would stop and distribute bottles of water during the summer heat.
She and Sisters Eleanor Harris, Bertha True and Mary Ruth Coffman, all reside at Sacred Heart Monastery in Cullman and all are members of Benedictines for Peace — some for as long as 25 years.
Asked if any among them were members of the group which came to be known locally as the "No Nuke Nuns," because of their public protests of armaments and other lethal ordnance shipments through Cullman by rail, Sister Mary Ruth Coffman said they were one in the same.
"We're still at it and we've been doing it a long time," she said.
There have been a collective 4 knee replacements over the course of the 5 year vigil. It seemed like every Saturday had a special hopeful moment for the group.
The few times it rained, there always was an offer of umbrellas.
But over the course of my personal witness at the vigil, I could actually feel Bush's War in Iraq falling in popularity.
One rewarding aspect was when soldiers home on leave would stop and thank us for thinking about them. They were disappointed there was hardly any public protest out there, except for little demonstrations like ours taking place throughout the nation. They were heartened by our message.
Folks who participate in similar actions have probably talked to many spouses and parents of soldiers. At ours, they would park their cars and have long conversations with one of the sisters, comforted by getting a few things off their chest, especially with regards to the extended tours of duty stationing in Iraq.
Often a minister would stop and "wish he could join us", but the high "veteran factor" in his congregation would make a public display too risky to his chosen occupation. Business owners stopped in support of us, but told of a similar hazard in joining the vigil.
The Benedictines for Peace sponsored me when I joined fellow Kossacks in Mobile during their January 2007 protest against the war, shoutout to ERNIE'S CROWD, THANKS FOR THE HOSPITALITY !!!
So, heres to bringing a new Obamadministration in !!
While joining the Sisters twice a month has been conversationally rewarding, we would rather talk about Hope and Change beginning in TWO DAYS.