A season for non-violence

The Hampton Roads Network for Non-Violence held its opening ceremony Jan. 31 at Mt. Trashmore.

Even though it was a cold night, the chill was countered by the crowd huddled around a small fire in a wheelbarrow.

The Season for Non-Violence is an international grassroots campaign begun in 1998 to honor the 50th and 30th memorial anniversaries of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The organization invites individuals, small groups and established organizations to explore and practice creative non-violence in daily life. It is also an effort to make communities and the world more peaceful. Priests from the Catholic, Jewish, Buddhist, Episcopal and Muslim religions gathered to speak at the event.

“Power changes everyone’s heart, especially in this time of war,” said Episcopal pastor Julia Dorsey Loomis. “This organization helps everyone inside and out to give one another understanding for all of us to accept peace.”

After each speaker, the wheelbarrow fireplace would start rolling and the crowd would follow, singing hymns like “Blowin’ in the Wind,” “This Little Light” and “Let There be Peace on Earth.” Of those singing was Kelly Jackson, adviser for Wesleyan’s Campus Kaleidoscope.

“This is the fourth year we’ve been doing this,” Jackson said. “Campus Kaleidoscope helps with the beginning and end for the Season of Non-Violence. Until people learn to be peaceful, there will always be war.”

Junior Liz Owens has been an active member coming to this event for three years.

“I remember it was freezing and raining last year,” said Owens. “It’s been worth it every year, and even though this is the warmest year this time, we all come out, no matter what.”

People who were not of the cloth still had the opportunity to say a few words.

“We are all our own inner peace,” said Richard Mateo, leader of the Nichiven Buddhist Heritage. “Everyone is their own yin and yang, but we must learn to harness the evil and turn it into the good. We are all of the earth and we are all first and foremost human beings.”

The last place the wheelbarrow stopped was right in front of a white four-sided post with the inscription ‘May Peace Flow Throughout The Earth’ in English, Arabic, Hebrew, and Hindu. The event ended with HRNN coordinator Linda Douglass quoting Gandhi:

“Whatever affects me affects everyone indirectly. Non-violence is the greatest thing in the world.”