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Rolla Peace News March 6, 2018 |
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Dear Friends: http://tomsager.org/Peaceletters/peaceletter030618.html In this newsletter is: 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THIS WEEK, THURSDAY, MARCH 8, 2018 2. GOOD NEWS 3. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) Bored Foreigners With Full Stomachs 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, MARCH 8, 2018 We vigil for peace in front of the Rolla Post Office THIS THURSDAY, MARCH 8, 2018, (and all subsequent Thursdays until peace is established) from Noon to 1:00 PM. Please try to join us. The temperature is predicted to be in the high 30s. If you do not feel comfortable standing with us in front of the Post Office, please consider driving by and showing your support for our message by honking your horn and flashing a peace sign. 2. GOOD NEWS The North and South Koreans, with no help and plenty of hindrance from the United States, appear to be building a path toward peace and away from war. Amid U.S. threats and sanctions, the Koreans are talking to each other and finding some common ground. It's obvious that in a U.S.-instigated war, conventional or nuclear, all Koreans would be significantly impacted, so they have a lot of motivation to avoid one. Especially encouraging is Kim Jong-un's stated willingness to denuclearize, if threats and sanctions are withdrawn. It remains to be seen how this will play out, as the power players in the U.S. are not likely to smile on a reconciliation between North and South Korea, but it's the best news we've had in a long time from that part of the world. Encouragement is more likely to help the peace process than skepticism. 3. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) BORED FOREIGNERS WITH FULL STOMACHS “the greatest contribution towards the whole of human race, made by China, to prevent its 1.3 billion people from hunger ... There are some bored foreigners, with full stomachs, who have nothing better to do than point fingers at us. First, China doesn't export revolution; second, China doesn't export hunger and poverty; third, China doesn't come and cause you headaches. What more is there to be said?” —Xi Jinping, Feb. 2009A reader writes in: “Whether Xi will prove to be a real environmentalist is a moot point, but it certainly seems that he is becoming a dictator. Personally I believe that other policy imperatives will prevent him from doing any environmental good. Talk is cheap.”Huhhh? Whether the chief executive of the world's most populous country and greatest emitter of greenhouse gases proves to be a real environmentalist is a moot point??? I would say whether he turns out to be an environmentalist is far far more important than whether he turns out to be a dictator; but I'm afraid that the US press sides whole-heartedly with this reader. But, let's give credit where credit is due. Whatever the outcome, China deserves credit for at least trying to move toward a more harmonious relationship with Nature, while we here in the United States move in the opposite direction. Will China succeed? It partially depends on us. Environmental degradation is a world-wide problem beyond the ability of any one country to solve. I think we should be cheering the Chinese on and trying to bring our own country on board, rather than pointing fingers. At this point, the problem of environmental degradation may be beyond solution. There are some things that “all the King's horses and all the King's men [cannot put together again];” and I think that the climate which I grew up in 75 years ago is one of them. As the native Greenlander quoted by Robert Koehler says: “The Old People of Greenland have told us, since the sixties, this time it’s too late to stop it . . . Your religion, your money and your politics cannot stop the melting of the Big Ice.” And neither can our Science. As goes the Arctic, so goes the world. But, nevertheless, we must do what we can, little as it may be. China says it will do its part. Let's respond that we will also do our part. Rolla Peace News is distributed by email once a week on Tuesday evenings (except on rare occasions) and is posted on the web at http://tomsager.org (click on Grassroots Rolla: near the top of rightmost column). If you don't wish to get notices of peace events in the Rolla area, let me know and I'll take you off this list. If you want to be added to this list, let me know. Wage peace, Helen helenm (at) fidnet.com |