I subscribe to 10 or 15 action alert lists, and I email my Representative to the House, my Senators, and the president on a variety of propeace issues on a regular basis. "You're wasting your time; their aides just delete them," I'm told. "It costs nothing but a little time, and it makes me feel better," I respond. I am writing today to tell you that not only will you feel a sense of participation and even relief from this activity, but recently I have found that it's actually working!

It all started in July when I got a snail-mail response from Senator Jim DeMint to my email plea that we recognize international authority with regard to our invasion and occupation of Iraq. It was a form letter, but it was clear that someone had read my email closely enough to put my name on the "opposed" list because the closing started, "While we may not see eye-to-eye...." I responded, snail mail, with little content and much connection-building language, and, in typical debate style, that was the end of that discussion.

Imagine my amazement when I picked up my mail last Tuesday upon my return from a four-week proactive peacebuilding pilgrimage and found two more letters from Senator DeMint - one about RNEP (bunker busters) and one about ANWAR (exploitation of the Alaskan wilderness for oil). Before I even got caught up enough to answer them, I got another from him and one from Senator Lindsey Graham about the torture of "detainees." (The latter is Deputy Majority Whip.) They are all answered now - again using snail mail. I shared this with a member of my SC DoP Campaign, and he got so excited that he wanted me to put facsimiles of all correspondence including my notes on this website! (I had to tell him that in more enlightened places, responses from representatives is commonplace.)

It is clear to me that at least a few people in our very conservative Senators' offices are taking me seriously. It is also clear to me that my friend Rachel in Asheville, NC is right. I had a long talk with her to get caught up on the news from while I was gone and to see what kind of media coverage our DC activities got here in the southeast. She is certain that this administration is on the defensive now; she says the president has been calling press conferences two and three times a week, that the media - even the corporate media - are asking difficult questions and not settling for evasive answers, and that he has been seen leaving the set shaking his head or with his head hanging. I had noticed a brush-fire (bush-fire?) of Bush-jokes igniting towards the end of September while I was on the road.

I plan to continue to send a veritable deluge of emails in response to my Action Alert services, but when I get a snail-mail response, I think it is important to respond in kind. Perhaps I will get up the nerve to visit my Senators in their local offices during the upcoming Congressional recess. There is a need for EVERYONE's talents, whether that means displaying propeace bumper stickers, networking with your other communities, writing letters to leaders, gaining media attention, publishing or broadcasting creative efforts or information, marching in the streets, or walking the halls of Congress. I believe we have reached a critical moment in which we must take new heart and do whatever we can to bring forth the culture of peace that we have envisioned since - ? (Forever.)