Appreciate Wayne M. Jones prayer. An addendum to the sobriety of his sentiments: j'aime la vie, j'aimela Paris I paper my column with French and Latin words hoping that readerscommunicate to me in both, which I am neither conversant, let alone, fluent in- and definitely not Latin, unless one hangs out with the CK padres or where Spainelevated the Cross in honor of San Vittores and Maria Ana of Austria. It was August in 1977 that I made my trip to the city oflights. Growing up learning of the warthat defeated the wily Austrian corporal leading the awesome Wehrmacht that fedAleman's illusions of superiority, and a chance to educate the status-consciousEuropean into the proletarian ethos of American democracy, I knew more ofEurope than my own neighborhood in South East Asia. I was on an overnight direct flight from Chicago to Pariswhen I woke up at the Aéroport de Paris-Charles-de-Gualle, aka, Roissy Airport, with its futuristicdesign, the escalators at the center of the building with its transparentplastic tunnels made the place looked like I just landed on a pad in outer space. Mehran Karimi Nasser landed at the airport shortlythereafter a stateless person after he protested against the Shah of Iran andstayed in the facility for 18 years, inspiring the Tom Hanks movie, The Terminal. Our Amboy the Shad did not think much offreedom of speech. August in Paris is when shopkeepers drive to Cote d'Azur forthree weeks of tan. My host who I plannedto surprise turned the table on me as the household went south toAix-en-Provence to imbibe on the first juice of the orchard. I arrived morning, moseyed over Champs-Elysseés and Arc deTriomphe where one can see the Eiffel tower from a distance. I went to the Louvre but decided I did nothave time to do justice to the art collection, so I walked to the Latin Quarterand watched an arty foreign film. A verytall lady Parisian beside me at the theatre joined me over coffee in one of thesidewalk cafes that sprouted after sundown. She was eager to practice her English, and we were both solo with timeto spare. We parted after 11 pm, surprised when she found out I was"homeless" and could not invite me over to her apartment full ofgirls, nor I to a five-star, demurred when she discovered I was headed for Rometo join Oblate Fathers. She might have assumedI was celibate; I wasn't sure if she was glad or resentful. She pointed me to a part of town where they had two-staraccommodation then descended to a Metro for home. I headed to Montmartre (that sported Sacre Coeur on a hill) where thebackpackers roamed the street at midnight eating their crepes downed with redwine; the famous Moulin Rouge was walking distance. My Arabic hoteliers were laidback, offered mewhat they said was the lowest price in town in spite of accommodation being almostfull. I mistakenly overpaid dinner at the Latin Quarters (a Viet waitermust have thought I was a generous tipper), and the two-star hotel was stilloff my range, so I counted my Francs, smelled the roses, and headed back to theairport. The Oblate Religious House inRome included meals compliments of the host padre. Intentional poverty included compassion. It was the satirical bent of Charlie Hepbo in Paris of 2014that riled the nerves of Moslem warriors who thought the European sense offreedom of speech and press was grossly disrespectful. The newspaper went too far satirizing theprophet Mohammed. In 2015, the guns wentblazing as the paper received its perceived come-uppance and my city of lightsbecame a city of fright and flight. It does not help that the media continues to portray allMuslims in the Middle East as a homogenous body, either through ISIS or ISIL, evenwhen 20 responsible Imams 2015 declared to tackle global climate change. Bombings we conduct inflict casualties oninnocent population, e.g., bombing of a Doctors' without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières). Casualties from us are "collateral damage";theirs are victims of terrorism. Anydeath as a consequence of violence is deplorable. The recent carnage in Paris last week wheresuicide bombers led by a French-born national, reared in Belgium of Syriandescent, inflicted disproportionate damage to catch international attentionsince we did encouraged Arab Spring that highlighted the cycle of retaliation movingad infinitum, ad absurdum! EU promiseda human federation but Chancellor Merkel bound to a stadium four days later fora friendly soccer match between Germany and France attracted bomb scare; gamecancelled. Like the US whose fear sawthe Chinese Exclusion Act passed by the US Congress late 1800s, the Turks inGermany and those of former French colonies of Africa and southwest Asia, aremaking their presence known while Europe royals convulse in spasm. Therate US-EU consume fossil fuel and our coercive ways of accessing the resourceis not too distant from the affairs of Syria, the Arab Spring, and the carnagein Paris. Kneejerk Moslems are not tojustified but it is well not to lose the historical perspective. j'aime la vie yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today, participate! in all, celebrate! -----Original Message----- From: via OE <oe@lists.wedgeblade.net> To: oe <oe@lists.wedgeblade.net> Sent: Tue, Nov 17, 2015 4:54 am Subject: OE Digest, Vol 44, Issue 10 Send OE mailing list submissions to oe@lists.wedgeblade.net To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to oe-request@lists.wedgeblade.net You can reach the person managing the list at oe-owner@lists.wedgeblade.net When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of OE digest..." Today's Topics: 1. Re: Longing for Peace When There Is No Peace (Nancy Trask via OE) 2. Re: Longing for Peace When There Is No Peace (Paul via OE) 3. Re: Longing for Peace When There Is No Peace (via OE) 4. Re: Longing for Peace When There Is No Peace (Nancy Lanphear via OE) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Sun, 15 Nov 2015 17:28:19 -0600 From: Nancy Trask via OE <oe@lists.wedgeblade.net> To: "W. J. via OE" <oe@lists.wedgeblade.net> Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] Longing for Peace When There Is No Peace Message-ID: <7798h3996e6su51h7b5jto3r.1447630099613@email.android.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" That is a terrific prayer, a great piece of poetry, ?Marshall, ?thanks for sharing it.?Nancy Trask Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone-------- Original message --------From: "W. J. via OE" <oe@lists.wedgeblade.net> Date: 11/15/2015 7:54 AM (GMT-06:00) To: Order Ecumenical Community <oe@wedgeblade.net>, ICA Dialogue Dialogue <ica-dialogue@igc.topica.com> Subject: [Oe List ...] Longing for Peace When There Is No Peace I'd like to share with our community a prayer I wrote for today's roundtable worship service.Marshall Longing for Peace When There Is No Peace A Responsive Prayer of Confession ? Our hearts are heavy with grieving today. Deliver us now from our hatred and fear. ? When Paris is bombed, we all are attacked. Deliver us now from our hatred and fear. ? We mourn for our brothers and sisters who died. Deliver us now from our hatred and fear. ? We?re fragile and vulnerable, broken and angry. Deliver us now from our hatred and fear. ? Our freedom and affluence have not kept us safe. Deliver us now from our hatred and fear. ? Our gated communities have not kept us safe. Deliver us now from our hatred and fear. ? Our rifles and pistols have not kept us safe. Deliver us now from our hatred and fear. ? Our homeland security has not kept us safe. Deliver us now from our hatred and fear. ? Our border defenses have not kept us safe. Deliver us now from our hatred and fear. ? Our satellite spying has not kept us safe. Deliver us now from our hatred and fear. ? Our drones and our prisons have not kept us safe. Deliver us now from our hatred and fear. ? Our Pentagon budget has not kept us safe. Deliver us now from our hatred and fear. ? Our money and power have not kept us safe. Deliver us now from our hatred and fear. ? We live with injustice and still call for peace. Deliver us now from our hatred and fear. ? We?re arrogant, haughty, judgmental, and scared. Deliver us now from our hatred and fear. ? We have met the enemy, and they are us. Deliver us now from our hatred and fear. ? Amen, Amin, Ameyn.