Tuesday, March 10

Reflection from Dan Snyder

This one is in the category of "It matters what you do, even if you don't see how."

Alfred Hassler (1910-1991) was for many years a major figure in the FOR (Fellowship of Reconciliation). The following excerpt is from an interview with him conducted by Jim Forest and Diane Leonetti. It is from Peace is the Way: Writings on Nonviolence from the Fellowship of Reconciliation (Walter Wink, Ed.). Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2000, p. 87.

"There was a famine in China, extremely grave. We urged people to send President Eisenhower small sacks of grain with the message, 'If thine enemy hunger, feed him. Send surplus food to China.' The surplus food, in fact, was never sent. On the surface, the project was an utter failure.

But then - quite by accident - we learned from someone on Eisenhower's press staff that our campaign was discussed at three separate cabinet meetings. Also discussed at each of these meetings was a recommendation from the Joint Chiefs of Staff that the United States bomb mainland China in response to the Quemoy-Matsu crisis.

At the third meeting the president turned to a cabinet member responsible for the Food for Peace program and asked, 'How many of those grain bags have come in?' the answer was forty-five thousand, plus tens of thousands of letters.

Eisenhower's response was that if that many Americans were trying to find a conciliatory solution with China, it wasn't the time to bomb China. The proposal was vetoed."

"Hope is... an ability to work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed."

- Vaclav Havel