Sunday, November 11, 11:30 a.m., Benson Hall
— from Suzanne Olson —
Please join us this Sunday, November 11 for a service celebrating the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day, led by Sharon Abreu and featuring music with the Orcas Peace Choir.
Sharon writes: This Armistice Day, our goals are to:
- Stop the glorification of war
- Divest from the war machine and use public dollars for human and environmental needs
- End all wars (by addressing the root causes of violence, domestically and internationally)
- Return Veteran’s Day in the U.S. to Armistice Day, a day to celebrate peace
Plan to stay after for a potluck coffee hour of finger foods (please bring some) – and donations of canned food or $$ for the Food Bank will be collected.
All are welcome.
Please let us know if you need a ride, or have other needs that the Fellowship can help with.
I am an original supporter of Orcas Issues. I am also a Korean and Vietnam “VETERAN”. I feel it is an “insult” for you “Orcas Issues” to call it “Armistice Day”. Unless you were born before 1954, you have never known it to be anything but “Veterans Day”. Most of your readers were not born when it was Armistice Day, I for one was. In retrospect, I guess one of the reasons I spent 20 years in the Marine Corps, so folks like you, are free to say whatever you want. But, my respect for your paper has diminished.
John—i ask this in all sincerity and out of a deep respect for your service, and also realizing that I may be missing something very obvious.
Educate me! How do you feel insulted? That’s the last thing anyone should be doing.
I’ve certainly upset just about everyone in my questioning of “belief” in anything not capable of objective demonstration in the public square which, if done, would further obviate the need to believe.
This Unitarian expression contributes likewise to why we suffer violence, wars, a variety of phobias and fear as a species.
Harmlessness in believing irrationally in anything is an oxymoron—especially when it prays on the temporal insecurities inherent in our understandable and predictable human nature and condition.
But I don’t intend violence in calling out irrational behavior whether it be practiced by new age secuarlists, bible-belt baptists, orthodox judaism, hindus, those who’ve deified Buddhism via their nativistic belief, or atheists…just the opposite…my effort is to move away from the irrationality that causes violence in all of its subtle and not-so-subtle manifestations.
That means upwards of 90% are upset by my observations. Clearly one has one’s work cut out for him or her; we’ll likely succumb to irrational behavior in the end but at least some of us are sheding light into the unlit corners of irrational thought…just in case the younger generations begin to catch on…
So, why is Armistice insulting?