A time of spiritual retreat on the island of Iona in April;
An invitation in May from Sandy Hook Promise to be part of the Newtown, CT commitment “to truly honor the lives lost by turning tragedy into a moment of transformation” by ending gun violence;
The opportunity to be part of “The Contemplative Alliance” -- an emerging coalition committed to creating a strategic ‘Sacred Earth’ message that can be shared among the American public -- in June.
Plan now to be part of this series of conversations in community with Ed as he brings back to our parish family what he has learned and been inspired by in these experiences with our wider human family.
Thursday, April 18: The Power of Contemplation
Thursday, May 16: Nonviolent Responses to Gun Violence
Thursday, June 27: A New Narrative for Economic Justce & Sustainability
Sweetland Hall | 5:30 - 7:00 p.m. | Register at the Small Groups Table on the lawn on Sunday or on the All Saints website | For more information conact Ana Camacho by email or call 626-583-2737
Dear Ed: I have contacted the police as well as Vision 20/20 that I keep in touch with, they meet too much and I do not have time to go to that many meetings with the veteran and youth programs I am running. The thing that concerns me is that these gun pick up programs are not getting the guns out of the hands of the kids and criminals. Gang kids are not going anywhere they might get identified because the gang is likely to kill them. I am afraid, I say bluntly, to offer to be the person sitting there having even their parents turn in weapons for them, for that reason. I have worked the gang streets too long to get killed in a sitting duck situation.
ReplyDeleteSO, what CAN we do. I do think we can send home fliers, and put posters around town. We can ask youths to design posters and write essays about how DO you safely get rid of guns you have figured out you do not need to have. One of the best places is in probation, kids who are on probation are in kind of a gang free limbo since the gangs know they are being watched and give them a little leeway before labeling them snitches or deserters.
If the young people figure out the answer themselves, maybe it would work. Parents need to have a chat, especially rich parents of private school kids who have some of the newer and more expensive weapons, and get them to let the parents turn them in anonymously. Maybe they could build a city challenge for other areas of Los Angeles to have the money donated to something, children's cancer, children starving, something that they might think about. Maybe just to programs for children around each city. I think it can be done, but as Nate Holden once told me, you be careful out there working with criminals. He had told my sister to tell me that because he was worried. God has protected me, I know, and I love my gangsters and criminals, but pray each day we change as a society so there do not have to be these realities. Every child deserves to grow up as I did. I was very protected as a rez child could be, and grateful for it.