Response to Star-Telegram article on "Anti-War" activists:
Anti-war activists losing patience with Obama | Top Stories | Star-Telegram.com
http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/1843242.html

First, I'd like to say that this topic goes far beyond the "anti-war" label; most of us in the peace movement are pro-peace and nonviolence, not simply anti-war. To the point of the article, we are extremely distressed that President Obama, in spite of his mantra of bringing about change, could not see there was indeed a different way in Afghanistan. This was an opportunity lost, an opportunity to put forth a vision of an alternative to killing and destruction, but he squandered this opportunity. And to that, we who are what would be called 'progressive' feel disgusted that as Pres Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize, he justified his actions by rationalizing with the same old paradigm that has been used for decades, rather than presenting a new model, a change model, that would make the old one obsolete. All the pieces were in place to show the world there can be a different way, a path forward to a world that works for all, a world where everyone's needs can be met and everyone can live in peace. He did not live up to the training and the examples of greatness he so actively studied. A great disappointment, a tragic letdown.
Instead of hearing hope for a new world, I heard the words of JFK ring true in my ears "Those who make peaceful evolution impossible make violent revolution inevitable." Those of us who have answered the call to be peacemakers, those of us who have stepped forward with others who see that peaceful evolution is not only possible, but working together it will be inevitable, were shaken to the core by Obama's more-of-the-same rhetoric. I find it deplorable that Pres Obama quotes the words of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr, but does not HEAR those words. I find it deplorable that he hangs a picture of Gandhi in his office, says that Gandhi was a role-model, but does not have the courage to follow in Gandhi's footsteps.
As president of the board of the Dallas Peace Center, as well as Director of Peace and Justice Center Arlington, I will continue to work for peace. I will continue to hold the vision, and I will echo and model MLK Jr when he said "If I am the last, lone voice speaking for nonviolence, that I will do."