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Rolla Peace News April 14, 2020 |
Dear Friends:Editor's note: Please send in your work. I think readers would love to see more variety in this newsletter.In this newsletter is: 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2020 2. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) The Peace Virus 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2020 We vigil for peace in front of the Rolla Post Office, THIS THURSDAY, APRIL 16, FROM NOON TO 1:00 PM (and most subsequent Thursdays until Peace is established). Please join us again this Thursday in saying NO WAR AGAINST IRAN or any other country. The temperature is predicted to be in the 50s. 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. Note: Since there are so few of us, generally 2 or 3, no need to cancel; but let's maintain social distancing. 2. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) The Peace Virus Here inside, all is still. You wouldn't know that outside rages a tiny, but deadly, assassin, a coronavirus, not even a micron in diameter.“And this stillness of life did not in the least resemble a peace. It was the stillness of an implacable force brooding over an inscrutable intention. It looked at you with a vengeful aspect.” Perhaps, COVID-19 ought to be renamed the Peace Virus. We have been calling for an end to the bombing of Yemen for years. COVID-19 has succeeded where we failed. Saudi Arabia has unilaterally called a truce to go home and fight the coronavirus. And in both Syria and Afghanistan, truces seem to be holding and progress continues to limp toward Peace. And in the US Navy, COVID-19 has forced a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to port, and forced the acting Secretary of the Navy to resign. That is no mean feat. I had hopes that the Peace Virus could have helped to reverse global warming, and it yet may. But, in spite of the global disruption and recession, concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide continue to rise; and March 2020 was the second warmest March on record. No, I wouldn't count on the Peace Virus to set everything straight for us. But, Nature has powers that we humans can not even dream of. So all is still. We hunker down indoors, afraid to go outside, and I think of another Joseph Conrad line: “And outside, the silent wilderness ... struck me as something great and invincible, like evil or truth, waiting patiently for the passing away of this fantastic invasion.” 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: at 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, Tom yushasager (at) yahoo.com |