(To read about Sister Karen Klimczak, the originator of the peaceprints signs, click here.)
This is in response to the horrific incident that happened at the University of California at Davis very recently (to see videos and photos, click here or here). It is inconceivable to me that this actually happened. Whatever side of the fence you may sit in the Occupy Movement these protesters were non-violent, unarmed, and showing no aggression. Some people, I believe, are truly terrified of non-violent and non-resistant behavior. I also believe that it is ingrained in everyone of us, from pre-birth, that we are all connected and when you hurt one another you hurt each of us…the original truth. I really find it difficult to believe that these police who did this to these students had a good night’s sleep last night. What has attracted me to the Occupy Movement from the very start is that it is a non-violent movement. Needing to clear my head this evening I walked down to the Occupy Buffalo site with my son (that’s him pictured in the lower left). I was glad to see they are still there, and thought to myself as I snapped a few photos what a wonderful scene it was…these people so dedicated to a cause that they are basically living here–in the cold (snow will come soon enough)–and doing it peacefully.
Some reading this may be a bit too young to remember the Tank Man of Tienanmen Square in 1989. He had the courage to stand before a line of moving tanks…unarmed, by himself, and looking to be carrying only a few groceries; he is pictured in the video below. It’s rumored that the people talking to him, just before the video ends and before he left the square, were government officials. It’s also rumored that he was executed shortly thereafter.
Urban Simplicty 