By Heather Allen-Garde

 

Some went because they are tired of the war depleting resources from social programs, some because they long to see their family members come home from combat – others just went to participate in democracy. More than 50 Hoosiers packed onto a bus headed for New York City to march for peace April 29 -- adding another 40 hours on to their usual workweek and demonstrating what Eleanor Roosevelt has so eloquently been quoted as saying:

 

“It isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it."

 

Wake up America, ordinary Americans are taking to the streets to work for peace and to demonstrate democracy. Business Students from Purdue Calumet, social workers from Hammond and students from IUPUI met writers from Bloomington and a painter from Indianapolis. They met the bus after work Friday night and after a long night of road-trip snacks, good conversations and the occasional nap woke up in the middle of Manhattan to call for peace and an end to war and all of its devastations. They were met with excitement by a crowd organizers report topped 300,000, which included maybe the largest antiwar labor representation in US history.

 

Working Americans, ordinary Americans, caring Americans, not radicals as some media talking heads have named them in the past, have joined together. They have joined to promote peace, which is normally not a radical concept. If saving lives, preserving resources, and securing our country is radical, let the mainstream get extreme. War is to peace what hate is to love. And apathy is war’s biggest enabler. Lets say someone is abusing another verbally and physically and you are in the room with them. How many people would sit in that room and turn the TV on or call someone on their cell phone in order to drown out the screaming and crying? This person’s hateful attitude is destroying the opportunity for love to exist. This person is damaging any possibility for civility. Likewise, war is destroying the possibility for peace to exist. And although it is not happening in your living room, it is time to awaken as if it is, because its ramifications are destructive and paralyzing. War breeds hate, fear, destruction and left unchecked can turn catastrophic to a society. When people don’t state their opinions, it must appear to our representatives that they are apathetic. As one protest sign stated: Apathy = Death.

 

More than 2,400 American soldiers have died in the war and more than 900 Hoosiers soldiers are in harms way. Injury reports have ranged from 15,000-20,000 and recent reports have stated that there is now more demand than supply for blood to help the injured. With the military testing a 700-ton bomb in Nevada as a test for developing nuclear weapons and daily threats of war with Iran in the news, it seems that the U.S. is getting farther from peace than ever. The demand for peace far out-weighs the supply. Won’t you take a moment to think about how you can make a difference?

 

There are rallies nearly every day of the week across the state of Indiana. There are petitions to sign, letters to write, people to connect with in peace groups. When ordinary people start working together miracles like world peace can happen. We can bring our troops home safely to their families. We can save our resources and clean up our environment. We can work towards a safer and more peaceful world – but it will take work. Great efforts can equal tremendous rewards. Will you work for peace?