I have found a new hero in today's (1/18/07) Oregonian. Her story was on page E5, it should have been on the front page. Irene Mansalvas celebrated her 103rd birthday yesterday. That's an extraordinary event in itself but it doesn't make her a hero. Irene is a Quaker, which in itself is nice but it doesn't make her a hero. Irene is still an active anti-war protestor as a member of Raging Grannies, that is what make Irene a hero to me.
Irene is, in her own owrds, ".. a pacifist, strictly. I just go back to the same idea: There has to be negotiation. Why wait until we've killed so many people to negotiate. My feeling about this whole thing (the war in Iraq) is, it was all for profit." ... "I don't want to get too political but I'm not afraid to go to jail."
Irene knows about war profiteering. During WW II she worked in an Internatioonal Harvestor Plant, a farm equipment manufacturer that made tanks during the war. She says it was there she learned about war and profit -- that it was more lucrative to build a tank that would be destroyed than to make tractors that that lasted 20 years.
My first reaction to reading the article was a wish there were more people like Irene. Then it hit me, why I am not like Irene? Why do I weasel out so often when it comes to putting my beliefs and desires to work. Writing a blog that no one reads is not an action, it's an escape.
Heros are people we look up to, people we want to emulate. I'm encouraged. I wonder what the future will bring.
It is, after all, time to stop this god damn war!!
War is not the answer, Peace is!
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