The Ethics of War and Peace Conference held at West Point is a major event for me and I have attended all of them. This session asked of War: What is it good for? I was surprised that the most common response was that it was not good for much these days. There was opportunity for much personal interaction. Fran focused on talking with the speakers, while I spent more time with the cadets. One afternoon I wore my War is Not the Answer sweatshirt; at all other times I wore a button with that same message on my sport jacket. I had an interesting discussion with our keynote speaker, Steven Pinker, and identified myself as a pacifist when speaking during the Q&A of a plenary session.
Speaking at U.S. Customs House vigil for Senator Fetterman’s support
for peace in Gaza, January 2024.
Signed for two certified letters from IRS today and used opportunity to explain to mailperson that as a pacifist I cannot pay for others to kill in my name (nearly half our federal tax goes to military-related costs) and redirect those taxes to life-affirming organizations
