Home with Certificate and Graduate Transcript!

Home!

With my Professional Certificate in Peace and Conflict Resolution -  and my Chulalongkorn University Graduate Transcript!

Thanks again, Rotary Peace Chula for such a great summer!

2 Days to Graduation

I've submitted my final papers, completed my final interviews, and been to my last few events - just 2 days of engagement and one presentation at the public seminar . . . then Graduation.

This summer I started my relationship with Rotary International, which I intend to maintain for a lifetime, as a Rotary Peace Fellow. 

If there is a person who has interest in what we did – or the coursework we covered – from a personal-experiential review, I would be delighted to share with anyone – including any persons interested in making application to this program in the future.  (Additionally, I am certain several of my colleagues from this summer would be willing to share their experiences, as well – and I would be delighted to connect any potential future-fellow – with my wonderful colleagues from this summer.)

At the conclusion this program through the Rotary Rotary Peace Center @ Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand, in conjunction with University Curriculum, I will have earned the Certificate in Peace and Conflict Transformation.

We had more than 2 weeks of engagement in Northern Thailand and in Cambodia (each yar, though, different Peace Fellows may engage different areas in Southeast Asia).  I have listed how and where we were engaged these areas separately.

I have a breakdown of our world-class instructors/trainers for our coursework – but here I am just listing the Titles of the seminars from what we did on campus at Chulalongkorn University, in four separate modules.  We had assignments and requirements due with each Module.  (The modules presented here are in chronological order – but the seminars are presented randomly.)  Our Seminar days were 7 to 8 hours of engagement per day.

It was a very, very, very full summer.  Because I am an educator, used to my summers “free” – I can state categorically, I had less free time this summer, than any other summer of my life!  Full of learning and discernment.

 

MODULE 1: The Concepts and Values of Peace and Conflict Studies

MODULE 2: The Diagnosis and Analysis of Conflict

MODULE 3: Conflict Resolution Skills, Approaches and Strategies

MODULE 4: Conflict Transformation and Building a Sustainable Peace

 

One Day Seminar:  “The context of conflict analysis, human security, humanitarian law” 

One Day Seminar:  “Overview of Conflict Analysis” 

One Day Seminar:  “Conflict Analysis: Dynamics and Scenarios” 

One Day Seminar:  “Exercise Work in Real Case Studies: Conflict Mapping” 

One Day Seminar:  “Conflict Analysis Practicum” 

One Day Seminar:  “Trends in Armed Conflict and Peace-building”

One Day Seminar:  “Cross Cultural Conflict Resolution” 

One Day Seminar:  “Harnessing the Power of Religion for Peace-building, or Not”

One Day Seminar:  “Challenges of Putting Conflict Transformation into Practice” 

One Day Seminar:  “The Moral Component of Peace”

One Day Seminar:  “Problem Solving & Different Approaches for Intervention” 

One Day Seminar:  “Appreciative Inquiry & Facilitation in Conflict Situations”

One Day Seminar:  “Disarmament, Demobilization & Reintegration” 

One Day Seminar:  “Security Sector Reform and R2P  (Responsibility to Protect)”

One Day Seminar:  “Terror Management Theory” 

One Day Seminar:  “The case of Southern Thailand” 

One Day Seminar:  “De-radicalization and Disengagement” 

One Day Seminar:  “International & Humanitarian Law”

One Day Seminar:  “Theories of Nonviolence” 

One Day Seminar:  “Peacebuilding and Peacemaking: Lessons Learned”  

One Day Seminar:  “Political Conflict in Thailand:  Past and Present”

One Day Seminar:  “Human Religiousness: Foundations for Dialogue &  Role in Peacebuilding”

One Day Seminar:  “Inter & Intra Religious Dialogue” 

One Day Seminar:  “’Do No Harm’ in Conflict Response” 

One Day Seminar:  “Gender in Conflict Situations” 

One Day Seminar:  “History & Culture:  From Ayyathura to Siam to Thailand”  

One Day Seminar:  “History &  Culture:  Colonization & Communism in Myanmar & Cambodia

One Day Seminar:  “State of the Art in Conflict Resolution” 

One Day Seminar:  “Defining Conflict Resolution: Classic Modules and Concepts”

One Day Seminar:  “Nature and Types of Conflict – Identifying Root Causes” 

One Day Seminar:  “Truth Commissions and Social Justice – Transitional Justice”

One Day Seminar:  “Capacity Building in Peace building and Conflict Resolution” 

One Day Seminar:  “Evaluation of Peace Programs” 

One Day Seminar:  “Peace Education” 

**Two Day Seminar:  “Tools & Techniques for Third Party Intervention”

**Two  Day Seminar:  “Conflict Trauma” 

**Two Day Seminar:  “Post-Conflict Reconstruction” 

**Two Day Seminar:  “Media in Conflict Situations”

** Two Day Seminar:  “Storytelling for Conflict Resolution & Peace-building” 

The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., please.

I read from the U.S. Headlines today about the newest U.S. Monument, recognizing the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.



In a totally unrelated issue to the Memorial – less than 24 hours ago – I had an online conversation with a learner in a course I am facilitating about Christian Doctrine.

I will post my comments to that learner here – but will say simply that I think it is emphatically important that we remember the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, and not just “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.”

The learner wrote in my class:

“ Dr. King, Jr. was a political icon that kept religion in politics."

I replied:

Dear Learner ~

I start every class I teach on campus with a video that is about MLK Jr..

So, please know that my comment is meant to be corrective in the best sense - and not a challenge to you!

But, I disagree that "Dr. King Jr. was a political icon that kept religion in politics."

Rather, I would note, The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King was a pastor who corrected misaligned politics with Biblically grounded religion!

Dr. King, in all of his sermons and his public writings - was a pastor - a preacher - and a theologian who used his theological orientation - not his "political" ideas - to shape politics.

And it wasn't just "religion" - it was Biblically grounded Christian identity and Christian Theology!

Dr. King shaped politics - no doubt! Yes he did! But he did so not as a politician, but always as a theologian, pastor, and preacher.

The last time he spoke - as with most of his speeches - it was in a church, behind a pulpit.

Among other great things in that final sermon he said,

We need all of you. And you know what's beautiful to me is to see all of these ministers of the Gospel. It's a marvelous picture. Who is it that is supposed to articulate the longings and aspirations of the people more than the preacher? Somehow the preacher must have a kind of fire shut up in his bones. And whenever injustice is around he tell it. Somehow the preacher must be an Amos, and saith, "When God speaks who can but prophesy?" Again with Amos, "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream." Somehow the preacher must say with Jesus, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me," and he's anointed me to deal with the problems of the poor.""

And:

It's all right to talk about "long white robes over yonder," in all of its symbolism. But ultimately people want some suits and dresses and shoes to wear down here! It's all right to talk about "streets flowing with milk and honey," but God has commanded us to be concerned about the slums down here, and his children who can't eat three square meals a day. It's all right to talk about the new Jerusalem, but one day, God's preacher must talk about the new New York, the new Atlanta, the new Philadelphia, the new Los Angeles, the new Memphis, Tennessee. This is what we have to do.

And:

Let us rise up tonight with a greater readiness. Let us stand with a greater determination. And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge to make America what it ought to be. We have an opportunity to make America a better nation. And I want to thank God, once more, for allowing me to be here with you.

And:

Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!
And so I'm happy, tonight.
I'm not worried about anything.
I'm not fearing any man!
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!!

That marks the end of my conversation with that learner - and here I end this entry with these thoughts.

I wish more memorials were built to commemorate peacemakers.

Though there was opposition and conflict in the episodes of the struggles Rev. King and many others engaged, their struggles were for a more peaceable and just system for life.

I think, as you can tell - it is profoundly important that we remember the Rev. Dr. King for who he truly was at the level of his ideas (his ideology). He was, as much as anything else, and perhaps more than anything else, a person who read from and interpreted Jewish/Christian Scripture.

And his generous and gracious discernment of important broad themes and important recurring strands of key ideas in the Jewish/Christian Scripture, as a minister, shaped his role and place in world history.

Extending Eupan - Reflection on Personal Privilege

Written while on location in Phnom Penh, Cambodia:

I have spent quite a few weeks studying to be in Cambodia – being as aware as I can be of the current situations in this country – while remaining aware of the social/political factors that have shaped its history.

In particular, I have been reflecting on the issues of Genocide that characterized the regime of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, particularly between 1975 to 1979.  As part of our plans for shared time of peace and conflict resolution engagement in the land, we will be visiting the “museum” that commemorates the killing fields, as well as the “S-21” prison, now a museum.  In these ways alone I have been prepared for the reality of death, gruesome genocide and terrible torture that has taken place in this land. 

Our first day in Cambodia, having landed in Phnom Penh, we went straight to a tourist event – visiting the King’s home at the Grand Palace.  Our guide told us his name was “Ritz,” and I thought as we walked through the Palace how this place looked like “the Ritz.” 

From there, we headed out to a great buffet lunch, “all-u-can-eat”  - noodles, meats, rice, potatoes, fruits.  Our group ate and went off for another touring event – visiting the “Russian Market” – a series of interconnected booths with various wares for sale. 

Not being much of a shopper, I stayed back at the lunch buffet. 

I ordered a cold coke and placed my earbuds in my ear and powered my iPod.  

As the sounds of soft piano played in my ears, I watched drips of water condense on my cold beverage, Phnom Penh was humid.

I looked across the room to the flat-screen TV and read the headlines listed in English, as the newsreporter shared. 

“Libya’s Civil War”

“Somali Food Fight” leaving people dead. 

“Syrian Siege” with a report of some 300 dead today. 

As the chilled, carbonated, syrupy drink delighted my taste-buds, I realized I was listening to an album entitled “Escape.”  Here I was – a rich, educated, privileged white-man – sitting in my isolated, Westernized, “escapist” head-phone reality – a cold coke to chill my body and quench my thirst,quiet music relaxing my spirit.  And I was immediately existentially aware that in this same moment, in so many places in the world, people live now in the midst of trial, trouble, and tribulation.  

I knew the S-21 prison was nearby – it is, after all, located in the heart of Phnom Penh.  More than 17,000 persons, average persons who committed no crime and who had no secret allegiances – these people were stripped, shackled, incarcerated, and tortured for months – to death.

 Just blocks from where I sat, only a few short decades ago – in my lifetime!

 

And in the same period of years, in my life, my country and my life has not experienced torture, genocide, civil war, food shortages, nor intrusions of conflict. 

I wonder, “Do I live faithfully enough into the privilege I have been extended, to extend that privilege to other people?” 

 

I will try to live my life in ways that are faithful and honest, kind and true, gracious and generous – in all ways extending peace.

Toward eupan ~

~ marty alan michelson, ph.d.

Advocacy, Engagement and Learning in Cambodia

 STUDY & ENGAGEMENT:  On-Site in Cambodia

 

One Day Seminar:  “Deep Culture, Deep Structure in Cambodia – Religion & Nationality”  Led by Emma Leslie - Director, Center for Peace and Conflict Studies, Cambodia

One Day Seminar:    “Ecology, Economic and Sustainable Development:  Discerning the Effect of Tonle Sap Lake.”  On site in the floating villages of the Tonle Sap Lake communities, led by various boat/educational guides directed through the Osmose Ecological Project. 

One Day Seminar:    “Religion and Empire Building in Southeast Asia:  The Significance of Angkor Wat”  On site engagement at numerous religious sites in the Angkor Wat Complex of Temples.  Educational engagement provided by personnel from British Research Team.

Half-Day Seminar:  Choeung Ek Genocidal Centre – On-site experiential lecture and tour including the mass-graves and site of execution, and current memorial Stupor  Followed by Media Presentation and Photographic exhibit and art tour at on-site museum.

Half-Day Seminar:  Tuol Sleng Genocidal Museum.  Of more than 14,000 persons imprisoned in Security Prison 21 “S-21), none escaped, and only 7 survived the torture they endured. Included engagement with 1 of 3 living survivors, Bou Meng.

Half-Day Seminar:  “History of and Protest for Human Rights in Cambodia”  At the Cambodian Human Rights and Development Association ( ADHOC )Led by President Thun Saray

Half-Day Seminar:   “Justice as Forgiveness through the Courts in Cambodia”  At the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam ), formerly Yale University’s field office for the Cambodian Genocide program (CGP).  Led by Youk Chhang, Director, DC-Cam.

Half-Day Seminar:  “Establishment of the ECCC:  Moving Forward through Justice”  Engagement included tour of the court and chambers, at the Extraordinary Chamber in the Court of Cambodia (ECCC).  Led by Lars Olsen

Half-Day Seminar:  “Resolving Collective Labour Disputes.”  At the Arbitration Council, Phnom PenhLed by Ann Vireak (Chief Arbitrator), Sonja Kim (Legal Advisor), & Rebecca Lee

Half-Day Seminar:   “Government and the Garment Industry – Monitoring and Compliance” At the International Labor Organization (ILO).  Led by Yim Pichimaliki, Head of Monitoring Team

Half-Day Seminar:   “Perspectives on Labour Growth and Management in Cambodia”  At the American Center for International Labor Solidarity (ACILS) office.  Led by So Somalay

Half-Day Seminar:   “How to assist in giving a better quality of life?”  At the facilities owned and run by Make a Difference for Good in Siem Reap (MaD) Led by Phil Starling

Half-Day Seminar:  “Experiences in Fishery Conflict Resolution” At the Fishery Action Coalition Team (FACT)Led by Heng Ratha including testimony and experience from 3 local representatives

Celebrating Solid Gold Spousal Support

Spousal support is normally a "hated" word . . . as it means for most divorced persons, some form of payment/alimony due to an "ex."

For me, I celebrate my spousal support from Robyn!

My life’s journey has been exponentially more full and vibrant with Robyn in my life.

In six years of marriage to Robyn,  I finished a dissertation I had intentionally boxed up to focus on being a parent and Dad.  With Robyn in my life, though, I was able to complete the Ph.D. with shared spousal and parenting support!

And, not just that - in the same space of these 6 years, Robyn's grace and shared care in my life has given me(we) opportunity to:

• Start and finish a Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy
• Travel with groups to Palestine/Israel/Jordan 4 times, planning a 5th trip now!
• Travel to and teach in Costa Rica 3 times
• Start and Finish a Professional Certificate in Leadership Education from Duke University
• Travel to (and around) and teach in Europe 
• Develop and Direct the Eupan Global Initiative in various advocacy and awareness efforts.
• 
  
• Travel extensively through many U.S. States, as a family – and as a couple - including connection and advocacy/academic travel with Metanexus and the Society of Biblical Literature
  
• Have space to think, write and travel to present lectures/papers in numerous contexts
• Receive the acclaim of a NEH Grant, including status as a Visiting Faculty Member at Oxford University
• Become a Carl Wilkens Fellow with advocacy work in Prevention and Protection efforts with Genocide Intervention Network
• Read and Research as part of the Calvin Seminars in Christian Scholarship
• Become a Rotary Peace Fellow
  
• Manage, organize, edit, and write my first book.
• And, in a few weeks, I will finish what started as an idea more than a year ago, the Professional Certificate in Peace and Conflict Resolution from Chulalongkorn University.
  

 

Robyn has given me space, freedom, shared help and resourcing in so many innumerable ways – with time, with work, with family, with just so very many things!

I wish for every person who seeks to be married – the blessings I have received from my loving, sharing, caring spouse.

I try to be a good husband - though I'm no expert at it for sure.  But, as I read and reflect on my life's reading and reflections shared in this blog, I realize - "all of this" stems from the "spousal support" and love and care and grace and generosity I receive from my loving spouse!

My wife is worth more to me than all the gold in the Buddha made of solid gold!  (see picture)! 

And, Robyn is easier to travel with than the Gold Buddha. Plus, Robyn is lighter than that 5 ton block! - and she smiles more radiantly and exudes more beauty than the Gold Buddha, too!  ;-)

Angkor Wat - A-maze-ing and Awe-Sum

I spent woefully too few hours in temples (Pagoda) in and around the Angkor Wat Temple and the entire temple complex in recent days.  (Outside Siem Reap, Cambodia.)

To describe the place as awe-sum is better than awesome – because the “sum” total of this place only inspired awe!   And then more awe. And the extent of temples here and there - running through jungle is something of a maze - besides being amazing!

There is so much to reflect on with respect to Angkor Wat, I do not know where to begin.  I am struck by how much time, effort, money and engineering went into the logic and construction of these “state”-religious structures – and meanwhile, there is not a single remain of a common person anywhere to be found.  I passed many huge, monumentally sized buildings with grand walkways or roads, and water construction (moats) for these magnificent buildings that must have been – in their day – wonderful – absolutely marvelously wonderful. 

Wow.

And yet, in the forests and trees around the area – even today – local Cambodians live in their tarp-bound huts around the perimeter, in houses and places of pseudo-temporary occupancy that will not last even a few decades – and the “effect” of this empire persists for millennia. 

As a tourist among tourists, I realize “we” visit these places to celebrate their beauty, but I wonder if, in the process, we are still celebrating the oppressive powers of empires that enslaved the poor in their own mythic-theo-political quest to be God-Kings on earth. 

Is this any different than what is narrated in Genesis 6? If the leaders would have empowered their people in their time and if they would have increased the  social fabric (the social capital) of their world for the the average person, would the empire have lasted? 

Had the religious identity of the empire not shifted from Hindu to Buddhist, I wonder – had the buildings been dedicated to the enlightened, empowered persons who constructed them – could the empire have lasted had they been empowered?  But then, would people build such buildings to demonstrate their own strength or do people need a “god” to build for?

I’ll be reflecting on my experience at Angkor Wat for a lifetime – really. 

I have no doubt about it. 

I’ve only just begun reflecting on Angkor Wat.

I’ll conclude with a link to the Wikipedia pages for the great poem Ozymandias  by  the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.  The poem is well worth considering – for any empire.  And, the modern and popular uses of the this poem and the importance of Shelley in other venues, are important enough that – if an educated person is reading this and does not know the poem or the poet, they should follow the links to know both!

Resources - from quakerbooks.org

I have not had time to read each of these texts (most, cheap at $4.95!) - but I have gleaned from them this summer and have got them on order for personal re-engagement for my personal library.

I was impressed with their simple truths, clear principles, and thoughtful "methods" for working in the various topics they cover.

Here's a direct link - to a few more than what I have listed below:  http://www.emu.edu/cjp/publications/little-books/

The Little Book Of Strategic Peacebuilding

BY LISA SCHIRCH
"Strategic Peacebuilding" recognizes the complexity and the effort this elusive ideal requires. Schirch singles out four critical actions that must be undertaken if peace is to take root at any level: 1) Waging conflict nonviolently; 2) Reducing direct violence; 3) transforming relationships; and 4) Building capacity. She never imagines this to be quick-or an individual-task. Her clear and incisive strategy encourages enabling many approaches to peace, honestly assessing who holds power, and persuading and coercing, but always with keen judgment and precise timing.

The Little Book Of Strategic Negotiation

Negotiating During Turbulent Times

BY JAYNE SEMINARE DOCHERTY
Most books on negotiation assume that the negotiators are in a stable setting but what about those far thornier times when negotiation needs to happen while other fundamental factors are in violent change, from deciding which parent will have custody of their child while a divorce is underway; bargaining between workers and management during the course of a merger or downsizing to establishing a new government as a civil war winds down.

A Little Book Of Forgiveness

Challenges And Meditations For Anyone With Something To Forgive

BY PATRICK MILLER
"When first published in 1994, this was a book whose ideas and message were ahead of its time. . . Since 1996 I have directed the Stanford Forgiveness Projects, a series of research endeavors that helped substantiate the power of forgiveness to reduce hurt, depression, anger and stress in people who hold grudges. . . In addition to this research I also have taught forgiveness to thousands of hurt and angry people. What I find fascinating is that the things I taught, researched and proved to be true, D. Patrick Miller already knew. . ." Frederic Luskin, Director of Stanford Forgiveness Projects. This is the 10th anniversary edition.

The Little Book Of Cool Tools For Hot Topics

Group Tools To Facilitate Meetings When Things Are Hot

BY RON KRAYBILL
Some subjects seem too hot for a group to discuss sanely, but this book shows how to help people hear each other when they feel like shouting; how to focus on the issues at stake rather than having a war of personalities; how to employ actual practices for better understanding (interviews, small-group discussions, role-reversal presentations); and how to move a group toward making a decision that all can honestly support. Cool Tools is rich in anecdotes and practical how-to for any group faced with tension-filled decision-making.

The Little Book Of Biblical Justice

BY CHRIS MARSHALL
This book identifies characteristic features of the Bible's teaching on justice and addresses the many complexities that surround it. It also explores the Bible's shaping effect on Western political and judicial thought.

The Little Book Of Peace

EDITED BY PATRICIA CHUI
This great little book gathers together over 400 quotes of wisdom from political and spiritual leaders. The words are thought-provoking and comforting, advocating world and inner peace alike. Contributors include Gandhi, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Anne Frank, Vaclav Havel, Buddha, Joan Baez, Martin Luther King, Jr. and many, many more. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the American Friends Service Committee.

The Little Book Of Conflict Transformation

BY JOHN PAUL LEDERACH
The author prefers the word transformation to resolution. This book incluces all the key ideas and thinking in how to transform a conflict - how to end something destructive and create something desired. Lederach examines both the long and short term and avoids idealism in favor of practical detail.

The Little Book Of Restorative Justice

BY HOWARD ZEHR
A primer on the idea of restorative justice, with helpful illustrations, tables, and lists.

The Little Book Of Strategic Peacebuilding

BY LISA SCHIRCH
"Strategic Peacebuilding" recognizes the complexity and the effort this elusive ideal requires. Schirch singles out four critical actions that must be undertaken if peace is to take root at any level: 1) Waging conflict nonviolently; 2) Reducing direct violence; 3) transforming relationships; and 4) Building capacity. She never imagines this to be quick-or an individual-task. Her clear and incisive strategy encourages enabling many approaches to peace, honestly assessing who holds power, and persuading and coercing, but always with keen judgment and precise timing.

 

Senator Hatfield Shaped My Life

I attended Elementary and Secondary school in Oregon when Senator Mark O. Hatfield was one of Oregon’s U.S. Senators.  He died this week. 

I did not grow up in a politically active family and do not remember too many occasions in school or in my elementary and secondary schooling when we spoke about Senator Hatfield.  But I do remember reading about him.  My recollection is that during his term of office, he was greatly respected.  Neither loved, nor hated, but respected for the integrity.

I wonder what U.S. policy and action – and U.S. International relations -  would be like today if more Senators advocated as he did.

Hatfield was a Republican who disagreed with then Republican President Ronald Reagan.  He, “used his chairmanship of the Appropriations Committee to denounce what he considered the ‘madness’ of excessive defense spending.”

Though a Navy Veteran who participated in the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, he is described as “one of the Senate’s most unwavering pacifists” who “never voted for a military authorization bill.”  As a “critic of extremism across the political spectrum, [he] carved a centrist path on divisive issues such as the environment.”

“If you’ve been in a war, you cannot but have your views altered,” he told the Associated Press in 1986. “The devastation, the terrible devastation, is not something one ever forgets.”

First elected to the Oregon state legislature in 1950, he was instrumental in passing measures banning racial discrimination in housing and public accommodations in his first few years in office — a decade before the government considered similar civil rights laws.

As I write this entry, only yesterday I visited the horrific memorials to the genocide of the Communist Khmer Rouge period in Cambodia, a country that was redeemed in January of 1979 by the Vietnamese.  Only hours ago I ate lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant in Phnom Penh (Cambodia), before going to the Documentation Center of Cambodia to be informed about how this center is documenting the problems of genocide in this land!  Prior to the years of conflict with the War in Vietnam and the problems throughout Southeast Asia, in 1966, Mr. Hatfield nearly lost his seat in the U.S. Senate as he stuck to his position, “You can’t stop communism with bullets.”

Hatfield, helped pass a ban on underground nuclear tests. He campaigned for rules to prohibit the sale of arms to undemocratic countries and countries that do not respect human rights.  When he left office, he expressed, “We’re [the U.S.] still the largest arms peddler in the world,” he said in 1997, “and we infect the rest of the world with our lust for weapons.”

Words to live by . . .

My potential new life-statement, which I have always tried to live out: 

Be faithful to my view of God & be a blessing to all other views of life. 

It re-frames the ancient wisdom of the Jewish-Christian ideal (Love God/Love Neighbor) in a way that might help me - and others - view anew this ancient theistic vision for life.

For years I have thought, prayed, and blessed my children and others in the following way: 

"Help me(us) to be a person who is faithful and honest, kind and true, gracious and generous, a person who reflects and embodies the life of God's Kingdom." 

Those are words that cross my mind, and cross my lips, nearly every-single day.

I want to live this way - to be a peacemaker in and for the world.