These are extracts from recent postings
to the OPFfs e-mail discussion list. If
you are an OPF member and wish to
take part, contact Mark Pearson or Jim Forest .
St. Constantine:
OPF received a letter yesterday in which a questionwas raised as to why St. Constantine is not on the calendar of saints in the Catholic Church, although he is in the Orthodox Church. gDoes it concern you that this eman of warf is honored in our tradition?h I responded by saying that my impression is that there are quite a few pre-Schism. No doubt a factor in his canonization was his decision to end all persecution of Christians and the influence Christianity had in encouraging him to reshape many laws in a more merciful direction. Many saints have taken part in war – none has been canonized for being a soldier. The calendar of the saints cension of the Lord. I think the timing of this feast was, consciously or uncon- sciously, a decision of great wisdom. Our Lord has gone up to rule over heaven and earth from the right hand of the Father. Part of His rule includes the kingdoms of this earth. Constantine was among the very first rulers to acknowledge the Lordship of Christ over the State and to begin the process of transforming the laws and customs of this world to conform to the law and wisdom of the Lord.
We celebrate what the Lord has in fact accomplished; but we also celebrate what
has begun. Constantine was not in fact the first Christian king (a king of Arme-
nia preceded him). His sins were many and some of them serious; some of his
accomplishments were not long-lasting; and some of his achievements were not even appropriate – the Constantinian union of church and state was in fact an unholy matrimony that has caused endless problems to the message and integrity of the Church. Even so, his accomplishments were great indeed. Perhaps more than any other saint of the ancient Church, he represents the task that Niebuhr called the transformation of culture. From that point of view, oddly enough, in light of his being chief commander of the Roman armies, he is close to the spirit of the Orthodox Peace Fellowship
David Holden andreaspetros@hotmail.
Byzantium:
The Byzantine Empire was culturally Byzantine, unique in all the
ways cultures always are, with Hellenistic culture being but one influence. It is
customary to refer to Byzantine culture as Greek, but that didnft mean the same
thing in pre-modern times that it does now. The marriage of blood, culture, and
religion to create the modern conception of Greek ethnicity as something pure and inherent began in the eighteenth century. Byzantines didnft think of themselves as Hellenes; neither Byzantines nor Hellenes ever being thought of themselves as an ethnic group. Hellenism was always a cultural phenomenon. It was the post-Byzantine culture under the Ottomans that recovered for themselves, from the pre-Byzantine past, their Hellenic identity. Prior to the development of nationalism in the 18th century, there was never any such idea as a Greek, or any other, ethnicity.
The migrations that led to large amounts of todayfs mainland Greece
being Slav took place between the 6th and 7th centuries, dates and extent of
settlement being uncertain and debated by historians. Most of the cities remained Greek, and there was much intermixing of the populations. The peninsula was recovered and once more largely Greek by the 9th century. There is no evidence that there was anything like a large-scale population exchange, though Imperial policy was influential.
Constantine was certainly neither Serb or British, as neither of those eth-
nicities even existed then, Slavs being a completely unknown people to the Ro-
mans at that time. Slavs migrated into the Balkans in the 6th century as raiders and didnft begin to settle in significant numbers until the 7th. They never supplanted native populations (assimilation, over time, may be more accurate, but such processes were so bi-directional that we can never say that the cultural end product was the same as at the beginning of the process). While there was a cultural influence in both directions, by the time the Greeks recovered dominance, the settled Slavs had been thoroughly gGrecified.h
Pieter Dykhorst petros@excite.com
Conciliar model:
Constantinefs significance in the East has largely to do with the importance we place on Ecumenical Councils, as distinct from a Roman-style Magisterium. His moving of the capital to Byzantium/Constantinople, the effect he had on establishing the emperor as the
vital link between Church and State, the significance of the Nicene Creed from
the Council over which he presided, his leadership in the Donatist struggle: all of this political influence – coupled with the fact that he was St. Helenafs son (is
holiness genetic?) and introduced an impressive number of ethical and social
changes into the life of the Empire, from tax relief and charitable works to endowing churches in the Holy Land and elsewhere – certainly contributed to the growth of popular veneration of his person. We are called to emulate Constantinefs virtues, not his vices – but thatfs true with any saint, who, by the simple fact of being human, is also a sinner.
Fr. John Breck
jrbreck@earthlink.net
Byzantines and war:
Thinking a little bit about history, I was wondering, if one compared the Orthodox Byzantine Empire with other great world powers in history, is it the case that the Byzantines engaged in war mostly from a defensive and protectionist stance, to consolidate
their position, rather than engaging in expansionist wars?
Certainly Alexander the Great, the Roman Empire of an earlier age, the
Muslim Arabs, Genghis Khan, the Turks, all engaged in imperial expansionism.
The crusades too might fall in this category.
But the Byzantines after Constantine seem rarely to have gone on wars of
expansion. They did fight against the Persians, Arabs, Turks, Bulgars, but
these were mostly attacks upon them.
After Constantine, the empire goes into a pattern of land lost by attrition and
war. Pretty much the Byzantines lose interest in the territories of the Western
Roman Empire in the 5th Century. In the 7th Century, the Arab Muslims gobble
up huge portions of the empire. The Bulgars carve out their own empire. The
Turks further diminish Byzantium until they conquer it.
The Byzantines seem to have engaged in some diplomatic efforts with
the Arabs, Persians, Turks, Bulgars, and eventually with the Crusaders. But their
war efforts were defensive rather than expansionist, except at times to regain
lost territories.
I wonder if anyone is aware if any research has been done on the attitude of
the Byzantine Empire toward war itself. After Constantine, did Christianity have
an impact on the imperial attitudes toward war? Did this lead to the Empire
being more defensive than expansionist?
For example, here is the Theotokian from Matins Canticle Nine for the Be-
heading of John the Baptist:
Son of the Theotokos:
Go forth, ride prosperously and reign. Place the forces of Ishmael that fight
against us, beneath our feet, and grant victory to the Orthodox
Christians over their adversaries by the intercessions of her who bore
You, O Word of God.
It is interesting that Monk John, who wrote this hymn, does not call for the
armies to go forth and conquer Arab territories, but only that Jesus would
grant victories over those who are attacking the Byzantine lands.
Even the gProtection of the Theotokosh is more defensive than offensive.
It is a call to protection from aggressors, and not a call for the Orthodox to be-
come aggressors.
So though the Constantinian legend was that he would conquer beneath the
Sign of the Cross, the later Byzantines seem to have relied more upon God as a
protector than as an aggressor conqueror God.
Is this perhaps part of the peace tradition in the Byzantine legacy?
Fr. Ted Bobosh StPaulDayton@aol.com
Byzantines and War:
There is a recent book by John Haldon, Warfare, State and Society in the Byzantine World (London, 1999). My guess is that the Byzantines mostly engaged in defensive wars,
because they had little option for anything else. But under Basil II, there was
expansionist warfare (though he probably thought of it as regaining lost Byzan-
tine territory).
Fr. Andrew Louth
Lebanon:
Just to let you know Ifm unharmed. I left Lebanon twenty days before Hezbollah crossed the border, killed the soldiers, and took the captives. My biggest hassle in leaving the country was the fact that I was over my weight allowance. My priest told me not to buy books while I was there, but I didnft take his advice. At this point, Ifm unspeakably grateful that I decided against staying in Lebanon until September.
I have been in contact with many of my friends in Lebanon. I have spoken
with Fr. Symeon by phone twice now. His apartment has what used to be a
beautiful view of Beirut across the harbor. Theyfre far enough out of town and
away from any potential targets that theyfre as safe as anyone can be in Leba-
non about now, but his wife and children are staying with her parents in a mountain village for the time being.
What grieves me even more than the scenes of devastation and death is the
thought of yet another generation of scarred survivors. Fr. Symeonfs oldest
child is three. One of my other friends from Canada who returned to serve the
Church in Lebanon has a young son.
Lord, have mercy!
Peter Brubacher phool4XC@gmail.com
Orthodox prison ministry:
Fr. David Ogan, who heads Orthodox Christian Prison Ministry, has been doing a tremendous job by filling a void in the area of prison ministry. Sad to say, but few institutions in the United States provide religious services for Orthodox Christians, though there are exceptions. The jail where I serve as Supervising Chaplain provides 32 religious services each week to the inmate population, including Orthodox Christian liturgy and catechism. Prisoners who become Orthodox believers in our jail are connected with a local parish when they are released. However, at least 30 percent of the inmates are sentenced to penitentiaries where they will spend many years of their lives. Most US penitentiaries do not provide Orthodox Christian religious worship services simply because there has not been a voice from the Orthodox
Christian community calling for such service, and not enough clergy to provide
the services. Therefore, the new Orthodox Christian believers behind bars have
been relying on Orthodox Christian Prison Ministry and local parishes to
keep them connected to their new faith without any formal worship experience.
I am not sure what we would do without that ministry. Thank you, Fr. David.
The need is so great and the door is wide open for Orthodoxy in our jails and
prisons. I am in a position of influence in the state of Pennsylvania. I have been
praying and trying to think of a way to enlist more Orthodox Christians in min-
istry to prisoners. Is this something that OPF might be interested in exploring?
Patrick Tutlella PTutella@countyofberks.com
Inequality:
Inequality has been on my mind a lot recently. First, I read Tracy Kidderfs superb Mountains beyond Mountains, a profile of Paul Farmer, an American doctor who has established a health-care system in central Haiti. One small anecdote struck me especially. His clinic arranged to fly a boy with a rare
but treatable cancer to the US, and ended up having to pay $20,000 to fly him out (theyfd meant to take him on a commercial flight, but his condition deterio-
rated). Some people in the organization wondered whether that money couldnft
have been better spent to serve more people – a legitimate question. Farmer
recognized the issue, then pointed out that a first-year doctor in the US makes
about $100,000 – but no one asks if that money might be gbetter spenth on other healthcare needs. A mere tithe on American doctorsf incomes would pay for a lot of medevac flights…
Then I read an issue of The Atlantic Monthly with two pieces on growing
inequality in the US. One was mostly on why the average personfs pay hasnft
gone up, even while productivity has been climbing for decades. The other
was a profile of the rapidly-growing business of providing services to the
super-rich. Its concluding paragraph is haunting:
gThen, out of the blue during one of our later conversations, Natasha Pearl
[head of one of the cater-to-the-rich companies] said something surprising:
eIf the income inequality persists, we could end up with real armed camps, like
in South Africa.f She said she was increasingly aware of the tension between
the ehavesf and the ehave-nots,f and she described a surge in demand among the ultrarich for real estate in out-of-the-way places such as New Zealand and rural Argentina – expensive insurance policies in case things go haywire for some reason at home. eThe wise ones are thinking about it now,f Pearl said. Indeed it might be worth planning ahead; I wonder what the going salary will be for a spot in an oligarchfs private army.h
John Brady hamartolos@gmail.com
On Power:
John Brady raises a key point. The question is that often for people, equality of goods is not per se the issue but the ends they want to pursue. I donft care that many people have lots more money than I do since all Ifm interested in is having the resources I need to pursue the ends that interest me. Ifm bothered by the fact that many – too many – people have lots, lots less than me not simply because they have less but because they are thwarted in pursuing the sorts of ends that seem to be part of a minimally decent life. On the other hand, many people are quite content with living very simple lives that require few material possessions – I know people that donft have a television since they have no interest in watching one. But a gsimpleh life is not the same as one that is materially impoverished. Some saints and ascetics have so renounced the ends of ordinary life that they have virtually no interest in any material possessions except those required for bare survival and their religious devotion.
Such people donft care that other people have a lot more. Once again, we
are back to the questions of the ends that we pursue for ourselves and with reference to others. Most of the ggoodsh that we consider in terms of equal-
ity/inequality are merely means to those ends and they get their value and moral worth from those ends.
Christianity seems ambivalent on this score. On the one hand, there are the
injunctions for a radical renunciation of the world leading to a life of extreme
poverty (on any definitions of poverty) and, on the other, the legitimacy of en-
gaging in the world (even if one isnft gof the worldh) and thus gacquiringh and
using the wealth and goods which makes such engagement possible.
John Jones
On being downsized:
This past year, since I was gdownsizedh out of a job, has been a very positive experience for me, and I try to analyze just why it has been so. Clearly, it might have been more trying if our general financial situation had been more precarious; we had beenprudent (and, in some ways, just lucky) in setting our-
selves up for retirement time, although we didnft think it would come quite so soon. But, there are other elements that are even more important.
The loss of control: It is a
good thing to be reminded
that we are not in charge in
this life, that the vagaries of
fortune or providence can
change things in a twinkling.
Free time: Time was suddenly avail-
able to help with family crises. One
daughter had a problem pregnancy. An-
other needed to move to Atlanta with her
toddler while her husband was doing
research in Japan.
Time to give: I have been able to
commit time to pro bono projects related
to war and peace in which I could much
more readily invest my deepest feelings
than in any paying job I ever had.
Freedom: Suddenly I had freedom to
look for what God really wanted me to
be doing, rather than what gmade the
most senseh in some job-counselor/
personnel office way.
Living on less: The realization that
our (relative) gpovertyh – regular pay-
checks stopping – did not make our lives
worse – and most days made them better.
There has been more time to spend with
my wife, more time to play the piano,
more time to tend my flower garden, etc.
I am currently a candidate for a job that I am truly enthusiastic about. It is
quite freeing to be able to go into my upcoming key interview with a sense that
it is all about doing Godfs work, not ensuring that we will have the income to
take fancy vacations, add on to our house or give lots of gifts at Christmas time. God is good! I had to go on unemployment to realize how good!
Alex Patico alexanderpatico@aol.com
Riches and poverty:
A friend of mine here in Romania who is also interested in living out the Gospels has been reading Ron Siderfs Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger. She was chuckling at his list of suggestions of things you could do to live more simply. There were things like guse fans instead of air conditioning,h etc. She said, gWell, we do almost all these things already whether we want to or not.h Air conditioning is rare in Romania!
gSimplicityh is often a thinly veiled disguise for figuring out how to save in
one place just to spend it on something else.
I wonder if the gwherewithalh does not come from a change in perspective
where we see the contemplative and relational fruit from voluntary simplicity
whatever degree it may take, rather than the supposed cost to our material abundance.
I think it was Wendle Berry who said something about what a shame it was
that we now feel comfortable giving money instead of ourselves.
Joel Klepac
jamklepac@yahoo.com
In the military:
At times I canft help but feel that Ifm being judged by those who
all but say that there is no place for an Orthodox Christian in the armed forces.
john.jones@marquette.edu
The circumstances that have brought me to this place are complex and pre-date
my becoming Orthodox. No doubt my decision to incur a commitment to the
armed forces would have been different if I had been Orthodox at the time, but
God has put me here for a reason and I have to honor that.
There is no doubt that the military is a tough place to be an Orthodox Chris-
tian, but I feel the Church helps me navigate these things by maintaining a ten-
sion that encourages humility and respect for the image of God in others and does not allow me to participate in the glorification of violence.
The work I do is oftentimes mentally, physically and spiritually exhausting, but
soldiers are real people with real problems and they do not need the geasy wis-
domh of those who simply tell them to get out of the military at any cost even if
it means being dishonest or somehow misrepresenting themselves and their
circumstances. They need prayers, not manfs judgment.
Aaron Haney, MD
CPT/USA/MC
zek18376@yahoo.com
Ex-Army:
I am a seven-year Orthodox Christian, converted after twenty-four
years as a non-denominational Protestant. I got out of the Army after nine
years in 1985 as a conscientious objector. I have traveled a long and difficult
road in search of what is true and right and good, as I trust we all are doing. I
have come to the conclusion that honest dialogue between Christians does not
always lead to agreement, regardless of the experience, wisdom, and maturity of the individuals.
Though I am convinced of my conscientious objector beliefs, rooted in
Christian faith and practice, I honor my brothers and sisters who disagree with
me and serve in the military for honorable reasons. I canft wait till we can sit
before God and sort this all out so that it makes sense.
Pieter Dykhorst
andreaspetros@hotmail.com
Questions, not judgments:
The questions we raise about war are not an oblique way of putting people in uniform on the spot. Whatever we do in life, we are all implicated in the activities of the society to which we belong, but when we look at how individuals respond in their own lives, we may find some of those who best reveal the peace of Christ happen to be people in the military.
I recall the executive officer of the unit I was part of while in the US Navy
who stayed up much of a night reading a book he borrowed from me – War and
Christianity Today – and afterward decided to give me his public support in my
application for a special discharge as a conscientious objector.
What he did, in my opinion, required more courage than anything I had done.
He was a career officer who probably sacrificed promotion from commander to
captain by his efforts on my behalf. Ifve always been grateful that my
interest in peace issues initially took shape while I was in the military – the
period of my life in which I found my way to Christian faith. The experience
was a blessing in many ways and ever since has protected me from dehumaniz-
ing people wearing military uniforms.
Jim Forest jhforest@cs.com
Houses of Hospitality:
According to books Ifve been reading, Peter Maurin (Dorothy Dayfs inspiration in many things) quoted a gfifth-century church councilh that required bishops to set up houses of hospitality in all their parishes. (These would provide food, shelter and probably medical care for the poor).
Ifve tried to find out what council this was, and what it said, but havenft
been successful. Does anyone know?
John Brady
hamartolos@gmail. com
Canons:
A canonist I am not, but I look- ed a little and here is what I found. I found a list of the Captions of Arabic Canons that are attributed to the Council of Nicaea (which is, of course, actually 4th Cent.). The caption of Arabic Canon 70 is: gOf the hospital to be established in every city, and of the choice of a superintendent and concerning his duties.h I also found incidental reference to a poor house (ptocheion) in Canon 8 and to a hospice (xenodocheia) in Canon 10 of the Council of Chalecedon (5th Cent.). These canons do not specifically command that such facilities be constructed, but assume that they exist; the point of these canons is that bishops should govern them and that clergy who have moved from one place to another should not meddle in the affairs of institutions they have left.
David Holden
davidholden1@bellsouth.net
Peace, Islam and Christianity:
I know that there is not only no unity on the teaching of nonviolence which Christ gave us in the Gospel, but there are many who see nothing amiss in the current war in Iraq. I do not feel the Orthodox are especially blessed with true under- standing about nonvio-
lence, but I know that it is what we are called to
be as Christians.
In a recent sermon I heard, our priest said that for all intents and purposes Christianity in Europe is dead while Christianity in the US is now a
political distortion. The responsibility for this situation lies in the unfortunate decision to align ourselves with political power, beginning with Constantine. To
make ourselves comfortable in this world, we were quite willing to abandon
the Kingdom of Heaven. We have no message of salvation, we have no Resur-
rection to reveal to our fellow humans. Wherever and whenever Christ through
the Holy Spirit reveals that we have not succeeded in burying Him, we rush with
planks and nails to entomb Him again.
Unless we begin to state the truth as baldly as this, we can expect no more of
the Middle Eastern Muslims. Why should they lead the way to peace? And
where would they begin to find it? Since Christ is our Peace and the Peace of the
entire universe, if we bury Him how will the Muslims find Him?
It is because we live in a gpost-Christian worldh that the Orthodox Peace
Fellowship has the task of exhuming the theology of the Gospel left to us by the Councils and Church Fathers, but buried by our eras-long alliance with military and government power.
Orthodox Christians who see nonviolence as unpatriotic are still living within
the romantic delusion of Christian imperialism. How hard the Gospel is on that
refuge of the deluded! Why shouldnft the devout and fanatical Muslims continue
their war against the gwesth? They really believe in theocracy and practice it as
well. As long as we see the Gospel as compatible with war and violence, why
should we call the Koran into question?
Alice Carter
alleycat2129@netzero.com
War on terror:
The news report gWashington losing ewar on terrorfh (In Communion, Summer 2006) left me dissatisfied. The remarks by Alain Chouet, formerly of Francefs foreign intelligence service, do not go far enough.
Chouet says that we should not be attacking the effects of terrorism but its
causes, a remark with which it is difficult not to agree. But when I read that he
attributes the causes of terrorism to Wahhabite ideology, Saudi Arabia and
the Muslim brotherhood, alarm bells began to ring in my head.
To be fair, he went on (in a passage In Communion omitted) to say that: gUS
policy in the Middle East, which had turned Iraq into a new Afghanistan,f
was acting as a powerful recruiting agent for a generation of Islamic radicals.h He also said that gthe continued US presence in Iraq, the atrocities committed by a campaigning army, the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq and the grotesque US detention center at Guantanamo in Cuba all eprovide excusesf for
violent radicals.h
It is good to see widespread recognition that the USA is its own worst en-
emy. It is also hard not to agree with the main thrust of Chouetfs remarks.
But what about the things he and the other people in the report omit to say?
What about Arab/Muslim anger at the appalling way the Palestinians have been
treated by Israel year after year, Israelfs illegal occupation of the West Bank, the
USAfs unqualified support for Israel over several decades, the fact that jets
and missiles made in the USA fall almost daily on Palestine, killing and maiming
men, women and children in larger numbers than the Israelis who are killed by
Hezbollah rockets?
What about US hypocrisy and double standards, confronting Iran over nuclear
weapons it does not have while refusing to condemn Israel for its nuclear weap-
ons program? Chouet mentions Wahhabite ideology, but what about the neo-
conservative ideology emanating from Washington? Here Chouet appears to be
buying into the US extreme-right ideology based on the gclash of civilizations,h
in which gtheyh are portrayed as out to wreck gourh way of life and the values
gweh hold dear.
His criticisms suggest US incompetence and stupidity while downplaying
the extent to which the USA is in fact guilty of more serious, deliberate and
premeditated crimes against humanity, in Israel, in Palestine, in Iraq, in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Perhaps this is why he mentions only gthe continued US presence in Iraq,h
omitting to mention that the US invasion of the country in the first place was a war crime.
There is a temptation to see all politicians in Western democratic countries as
fundamentally well-intentioned but prone to blunders and apt to fly off the handle. Unfortunately I think the reality is more somber, and the prophecy about the ghearts of men growing coldh is being fulfilled in our time by cynical, hollow politicians among others.
Not only Hezbollah rockets and Islamist suicide bombers, but also
bombs, bullets and torture made in the USA, have cheapened life and defaced
the image of God that is printed on each one us.
What is the most appropriate Christian response to all this? As I say, I find
it hard to keep up!
James Chater
jmchater@planet.nl
Meeting President Bush:
I had my picture taken last week with the President of the United States. For some this means I had my picture taken with one of the greatest men alive, to others it means being frozen in time with a war criminal. When my father-in-law first invited my husband and me to attend a fundraiser compliments of him, my first response was negative. I am not a sup-
porter of George Bush Jr.
I ran the idea past some of my friends at the homeless shelter where I volunteer.
These people are the poorest of the poor and would never have the chance to go to anything like this. gWhat would you say to the president of the United States,h I asked, gif you had a few seconds with him?h Suggestions ranged from asking
him to resign to asking for money to telling him gently that we are all humans
and make mistakes and perhaps he should take responsibility for the ones he
has made.
Although the luncheon itself was not set until 11:30, we had to be at the hotel
by 9 a.m. because they would be closing the roads for security reasons. We were
greeted by cheerful volunteers, given name tags, and ushered into a room to
wait. After being taken through a metal detector, we were taken to another area
where there were breakfast rolls, fruit, coffee and tea. We milled around while
a buffet was set up.
At last we were told the president would be there soon and we should get
into the velvet-roped line. Various Republicans ascended a platform and gave
speeches in support of the Republican candidate, Mark Kennedy. The priorities
of the Republican Party became clear to me. First it was the war (brave and no-
ble), second it was the economy (getting better), and third it was family (bright
and shiny). A vote for Mark Kennedy was not only a vote for security and
continued wealth, but a vote for family. As my attention turned from the
speakers, I looked around the room and a thought slipped into my consciousness.
There were only one African-American in the room. No Hispanics or Asians.
We were as white as the snow outside.
I noticed the Governor of Minnesota, Tim Pawlenty, not far from me. gGover-
nor,h I said, glook around. There are only white people here. Except for one
person, I don’t see any people of color.h The Governor’s eyes moved around the
room. He nodded. gIt’s a little disturbing isn’t it?h I asked.
gYes,h he said, a bit hesitantly. gI am a volunteer at a homeless shelter in Min-
neapolis,h I went on. gWe have diversity there, but here I see only one color. Do
you think there is anything we can do about that?h The governor was vague,
told me about a homeless initiative of his administration, then asked me a few
questions about Peace House. I invited him to come and visit, writing down our
phone number and address for him. gGod bless you,h I said, as I moved away, gHe has,h he replied, almost defensively.
Finally the moment arrived. We were in an area divided by long blue velvet
curtains. On the other side we heard applause. The president had arrived.
Then things went quickly. Suddenly my husband and I were next in line. We
walked toward the president standing in front of the bright lights of the photographer. I felt the president’s hand in mine.
We smiled. Camera flash.
I turned and sought the president’s eyes, and took his hand again.
gPlease,h I pleaded, gdon’t forget the poor and the homeless.h His eyes seemed
worried, he appeared to have braced himself.
gI won’t,h he said staunchly. He looked like a brave little boy.
Rene Zitzloff Reneemary@aol.com
