This is so beautiful, and all the yes. This is what we should be doing in Christ's name. This is how we change the world for the better. Not with might, but with love and compassion.
With you on “not by might, but with love and compassion.” Being connected to this work has grounded me and helped me cling to hope despite our current reality these days.
Your words bleed into my heart and raise memories of what horrible travesties were carried out by the 🇺🇸 during the Vietnam “conflict”. Because it was never officially recognized as a “war”, that would have needed approval from Congress. By not having that approval a number of Presidents and their military leadership was allowed to run rampant without any type of oversight. I was in high school when the protests reached a fever pitch. I saw the bumper stickers that said: “America, Love it or Leave It”. And the most disgusting (and dangerous) of all: “America, Right or Wrong.” My Aunt Kay was a Navy Nurse, who had risen to the rank of Commander, she was a “feminist” before the word existed, not getting married until she was 45 and never having children. She had been stationed in what was called the “Pacific Theater” in World War II, and then in post-war Japan where she the savagery done by the atomic bombs. She grew to love, and respect, the Japanese people and culture while she was there. During the Korean “conflict” she was stationed on a hospital ship. After that she was posted to various US Naval Bases, until the Vietnam “War” when she was posted to Norfolk (Virginia) to be the Chief Administrator of one of the Naval Hospitals there. I remember laying in bed one night during a visit, listening to her talk to my parents and Uncle Frank (her husband). She was telling my parents that she had come to the decision to “resign her commission and retire.” To say my parents were shocked was an understatement! Commander Kathryn Dunn Butorac had never been the type of person to leave wounded soldiers! She explained her decision with a level of despair, I had never heard in her voice before. “The nurses and doctors under my command cannot do the necessary medical work and care for their patients when I cannot provide them with answers about what precisely is wrong! We are seeing burns that are severe that we have never seen before, except when dealing with chemical burns. And these young men, so very young and so very poor who are being sent into the most dangerous situations. They tell us about US Air Force planes flying overhead and dropping a strange colored smoke over everything! The leaves fall off the trees and all the vegetation dies! And any part of their skin left uncovered burns and blisters! Every time I try to get information about what the Government of the USA is using so we know how to treat these soldiers, all I get are lies!! And the descriptions of where some of them were fighting can only be Cambodia! The people in the highest positions are not only lying to me! They are lying to the American people! I refuse to be complicit!”
This is so beautiful, and all the yes. This is what we should be doing in Christ's name. This is how we change the world for the better. Not with might, but with love and compassion.
With you on “not by might, but with love and compassion.” Being connected to this work has grounded me and helped me cling to hope despite our current reality these days.
I think we all need to find something tangible to hold onto right now. Working on finding mine.
🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽
Love this 💛 look forward to learning more about CGI (and seeing you:) at the event next month.
Yay!!🎉
Your words bleed into my heart and raise memories of what horrible travesties were carried out by the 🇺🇸 during the Vietnam “conflict”. Because it was never officially recognized as a “war”, that would have needed approval from Congress. By not having that approval a number of Presidents and their military leadership was allowed to run rampant without any type of oversight. I was in high school when the protests reached a fever pitch. I saw the bumper stickers that said: “America, Love it or Leave It”. And the most disgusting (and dangerous) of all: “America, Right or Wrong.” My Aunt Kay was a Navy Nurse, who had risen to the rank of Commander, she was a “feminist” before the word existed, not getting married until she was 45 and never having children. She had been stationed in what was called the “Pacific Theater” in World War II, and then in post-war Japan where she the savagery done by the atomic bombs. She grew to love, and respect, the Japanese people and culture while she was there. During the Korean “conflict” she was stationed on a hospital ship. After that she was posted to various US Naval Bases, until the Vietnam “War” when she was posted to Norfolk (Virginia) to be the Chief Administrator of one of the Naval Hospitals there. I remember laying in bed one night during a visit, listening to her talk to my parents and Uncle Frank (her husband). She was telling my parents that she had come to the decision to “resign her commission and retire.” To say my parents were shocked was an understatement! Commander Kathryn Dunn Butorac had never been the type of person to leave wounded soldiers! She explained her decision with a level of despair, I had never heard in her voice before. “The nurses and doctors under my command cannot do the necessary medical work and care for their patients when I cannot provide them with answers about what precisely is wrong! We are seeing burns that are severe that we have never seen before, except when dealing with chemical burns. And these young men, so very young and so very poor who are being sent into the most dangerous situations. They tell us about US Air Force planes flying overhead and dropping a strange colored smoke over everything! The leaves fall off the trees and all the vegetation dies! And any part of their skin left uncovered burns and blisters! Every time I try to get information about what the Government of the USA is using so we know how to treat these soldiers, all I get are lies!! And the descriptions of where some of them were fighting can only be Cambodia! The people in the highest positions are not only lying to me! They are lying to the American people! I refuse to be complicit!”
I’m so sorry for all that your Aunt Kay went through. Thank you for sharing some of her story and your heart. 💛