10/14/2021
My Friend & POTUS, JRB,
The Beatles think we can work it out. They warn that life is short & there’s no time for fussing and fighting. I hope they are right. There are so many people at odds with one another these days, it makes me wonder.
Some of my Quaker Friends center on the idea that peace starts within, that only when we have come to terms with our own demons can we resolve conflicts with others. As you know, spiritual practice provides a space for that introspection that can quiet our tormented souls.
That’s why I was disappointed to read in the AJ this morning that the Tatmadaw has been attacking Christian churches. Their paranoia leads them to distrust any gathering so they assume that worship services are really revolutionary meetings. They fire artillery at church buildings & kill church officials, especially in the border states. A professor of the Kachin Theological College and Seminary says, “I want to go back to the classroom and teach my students about Jesus’ peace and justice, love and compassion, but I cannot do so now.”
I understand you will be meeting with Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta (UK) in the WH today & the war in Ethiopia will be a major topic. The same kind of attack on religious spaces & people is happening there. Ethiopian and Eritrea troops are going out of their way to loot and destroy beloved churches, mosques and monasteries. According to African Arguments this is “aimed at humiliating and demoralising the population to break the community’s resolve and spirit …to erase people’s attachment to the land, uprooting them not only physically, but psychologically.” We know that this strategy is doomed to failure, because removing a building does not remove faith & love from someone’s heart.
Please encourage UK to invest the $30 million that he has been hiding in Kenya enterprises. He can put it into Fintech & be on the cutting edge of financial technology. Apparently, Kenya is a leader in that industry. Who knew?
PBWY,
