Manifesto--on Guns; Judy Collins' Song

I don't own a gun. Though I don't hunt myself, I'm not against hunting or target shooting. Many close friends and family members hunt and target shoot. But I, personally, promise never to own a gun. I will not ever defend myself with a gun. I would rather take a bullet myself than to kill a child.

My old friend, Reverend Maurice McCrackin, tested his actions against the question, "What Would Jesus Do?" Jesus would not be shooting people with guns; He would not be shooting children; He would not protect his few worldy possessions with lethal force.

I am probably not a total pacifist, but I believe in peaceful, nonviolent resistance. I think it is a good and effective strategy. Violence so often begets more violence. As Gandhi said, "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth will leave the world blind and toothless."

Peace begins with me--and you. 

Don't abet violence; don't seek revenge; put a stop to violence with non-lethal means whenever that is possible (and it is possible most of the time). Keep guns locked away if you own them.

Here is a Judy Collins's song about how one person can begin creating a world of peace:

Fortune of Soldiers

Words and Music by Judy Collins, David Buskin, Dwight Batteau, Jr.

Was the fortune of soldiers to be always at war

Sighting down the barrel at whatever comes

Till the fighters forgot what they're doing it for

And reason was lost in the sound of the drums

Twas the fortune of soldiers to be always alone

Forgetting the faces of all their loved ones

Far from their daydreams, far from their homes

Love songs were drowned in the sound of the drums

Don't you know the dream has come true

Don't you know by now the dream has come true

When they say peace can never be

It's a fantasy

They didn't know about you

Don't you know the dream has come true

Don't you know by now the dream has come true

When they said peace can never be

They just couldn't see

What one dreamer can do

Tis the fortune of bankers and builders of arms

To worship the profit however it comes

Up in their towers, sheltered from harm

Far from the smoke and the sound of the drums

Tis the fortune of dreamers to see what they see

To live with the scorn till the miracle comes

To teach us the music and show us the key

And the chorus to silence the sound of the drums

Don't you know the dream has come true

Don't you know by now the dream has come true

When they say peace can never be

It's a fantasy

They didn't know about you

Don't you know the dream has come true

Don't you know by now the dream has come true

When they say that peace can never be

They just couldn't see what one dreamer can do

Tis the fortune of children to have such a choice

To grow up to be dreamers or builders of guns

Born to be angels, born to rejoice

Not to grow up to the sound of the drums

Don't you know the dream has come true

Don't you know by now the dream has come true

When they say peace can never be

It's just a fantasy

They didn't know about you

Don't you know the dream has come true

Don't you know by now the dream has come true

When they said that peace can never be

It's a fantasy

Another Poem about the West Virginia Mining Disaster

Aftermath: West Virginia Mining Disaster

The four bodies of those we hope survived
Are carried out one-by-one.
Twenty-nine ambulances make the slow, winding drive
To coroners and funeral homes.

Sorrows transforms into anger; then visceral hatred
For the murderers, the owners and operators
Who so eagerly exchanged lives for riches.

“I’ll cut his f-ing throat ear to ear,” the wife of a dead miner screamed,
Brandishing a paring knife.
But the words didn’t reach the offices of Massey Energy.

“If he sets foot in Raleigh County again, his head’s gonna get blowed off,”
Shouted the fifteen-year old son of a dead miner—

Blown to smithereens, smashed like eggshells, smothered and burned,
Like the 29 dead of Upper Big Branch mine.


The above poem is partly fictional, based on how I imagined the families of the victims would feel. I do not advocate violence--but it would be understandable. I believe we can change an unjust situation through active nonviolent techniques. The great models in this regard are Jesus, Mohandas Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr.