"You mean that's it? You're going home? You're not going to stand on that street corner and proclaim your convictions? You're just a whisper in a storm, that's all you are!"

He was a Viet Nam veteran we met on the far side of the square as we walked our weekly vigil. He had accepted my flyer about the call-in day on Tuesday with such enthusiasm that I gave him a few more and invited him to spread the word and join us every Saturday at 11:00 by the fountain. He had replied that he had been opposed to this war from the start, and he'd be happy to join us.

Then he caught up to me as I was leaving the square, and his outrage was more disheartening than the rejection of those who refused to take a flyer. He's my agemate, my potential ally, and a veteran besides, and I had let him down. But on my way home, I decided that I'd rather be a whisper in a storm than shout myself hoarse and make myself sick to my soul about this war.

This war will end - sooner rather than later, if present trends continue. In the grand scheme of things, this war is but a whisper in a storm. That's why my heart, along with the greater commitment of time, energy, and material resources, is with the Department of Peace Campaign and the Nonviolent Communications model. Please whisper with me; I've never known a shout to seduce anyone!