FRIENDSHIPS, FREE SPEECH, AND GOOD WILL

Let your ways be known upon earth,
    your saving health among all nations.

[Psalm 67:2 Book of Common Prayer]

My wife, Linda, served three years in the Peace Corps in Thailand back in the seventies.

The Peace Corps was established in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy to promote world peace and friendship by providing trained volunteers to countries who need them. By working together, people from the United States and countries around the world get to understand one another a little better. More than 240,000 volunteers have served in 144 countries since the Peace Corps was created.

This past weekend, we entertained several of her friends from back in those early days in a somewhat hastily planned, spontaneous reunion, which had no other purpose than to gather together and enjoy each other’s company. Although many years have gone by, the bonds of friendship that were forged during their time of service have grown even stronger.

Our guests came to Ohio from Hawaii, Maryland, and the state of Washington. Whenever they find themselves near a former fellow volunteer, they devise ways to get together.

I, of course, am the outsider in the group. But even though I was meeting two of them for the first time, I have never – in this, or other occasions – felt left out.

The couple from Washington arrived early Saturday. The others would arrive much later in the day. So, while we were waiting, Linda suggested a trip to the Kent State University May 4 Memorial.

For those who may not remember, Kent State University was where, in 1970, during a campus protest, four students were killed and nine others wounded by the Ohio National Guard.

This was my first visit to the memorial in quite a while, and it brought back a whirlwind of memories for me.

I was a part-time graduate student at Kent State in 1970. During the day, I taught Spanish and French in the Akron Public Schools, so I wasn’t on campus at the time of the shootings, but I did have a class scheduled for that evening. Needless to say, it was canceled, as were all classes for the rest of the quarter.

The announcement of the shootings was made over the public address system at the school where I was teaching.

My first reaction was anger: anger at the governor of the state, who had ordered the guardsmen to the campus; anger at the general who had ordered the guardsmen to fire at the students; and anger at the President, who ordered the United States invasion into Cambodia, sparking the protest that ended so violently.

I recall the reaction of the teacher in the classroom next to mine. She was married to a guardsman who had been deployed to Kent. Her anger was directed at the university students, fueled, no doubt, by a healthy dose of fear and concern for the safety of her husband.

A visit to the memorial is worthwhile for anyone who wants to learn more about that tumultuous time.

The tragic events of May 4, 1970, are a cautionary tale for those of us today who feel uneasy about the current deployment of the National Guard into major American cities, ostensibly to control a high incidence of crime.

Some, dare I say many, would argue that the current administration’s real purpose is to suppress free speech, a right which is assured by the United States Constitution.

It is a move on the President’s part that could potentially have tragic consequences for our country in terms of both the political and the human costs.

The topic of free speech is a prominent theme at the May 4 Memorial. Several of the displays emphasize the significance of the Bill of Rights and the government’s responsibility to protect those rights.

In our conversation, our Peace Corps friends and I wondered aloud whether this current administration is upholding its end of that bargain. It is an issue that is in serious doubt at this time, what with the divisive rhetoric that we hear on a daily basis.

As we were sharing our concerns about politics and politicians, I remembered a remarkable moment that I witnessed a decade ago, on September 24, 2015. The late Pope Francis, of blessed memory, made a historic appearance before both chambers of congress. In that speech he delivered the following words to the legislators:

Your own responsibility as members of Congress is to enable this country, by your legislative activity, to grow as a nation. You are the face of its people, their representatives. You are called to defend and preserve the dignity of your fellow citizens in the tireless and demanding pursuit of the common good, for this is the chief aim of all politics. A political society endures when it seeks, as a vocation, to satisfy common needs by stimulating the growth of all its members, especially those in situations of greater vulnerability or risk. Legislative activity is always based on care for the people. To this you have been invited, called and convened by those who elected you.

Sadly, that advice fell on deaf ears. I doubt that any of the current members of congress will remember that day. Only a few of them were even serving then.

The Book of Common Prayer contains a series of “Prayers for National Life” which are found on pages 820 to 823. I have bookmarked those pages as well as the “Prayers for the Social Order” that follow on the subsequent pages.

I keep them close at hand to help and remind me that even though I grow increasingly concerned, I must refuse to give in to despair.

In addition, there are two sets of suffrages in our morning prayers that lately have given me pause:

Give peace, O Lord, in all the world;
For only in you can we live in safety.

Lord, keep this nation under your care;
And guide us in the way of justice and truth.

I pray the goodwill that my wife and her friends created during their time of service in Thailand those many years ago is not eradicated by the current isolationist policies of this administration.

I pray that our elected officials will eventually come to realize that the truths of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness which we hold to be self-evident are slowly being eroded before our very eyes.

I have faith that this nation’s democratic principles will overcome the challenges of authoritarianism we are facing at the present time.

And we pray:

O Lord our Governor, bless the leaders of our land, that we may be a people at peace among ourselves and a blessing to other nations of the earth. [BCP, p. 821]