Like Sullivan Ballou, you have followed your heart without hesitation or fear. Where his heart led Sullivan Ballou to be a soldier, yours has called you to be a peacemaker, and you have followed that path for over 35 years through 30 arrests, prison and acquittals in 3 other jury trials, countless protests, demonstrations, workshops and speeches; and multiple trips to troubled countries such as Iraq, Jordan, and Egypt. Your personal philosophy is beautifully summed up in your explanation of why you began your public opposition to war and violence by registering as a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War: “I kept hearing the tapes in my head of Jesus saying ‘love your enemies.”
You have also continually lived out your belief that an advocate for peace must offer alternatives to violence. You have worked with poor black families in Mississippi, spent 16 years in southern Georgia in an intentional Christian community centered on values of nonviolence, racial reconciliation, simple living, and service to others, planted trees in Afghanistan, and supported numerous groups in Minnesota promoting social and economic justice and sustainability.
You were one of the founding members of the Iraqi American Reconciliation Project. Your friends there tell us that that you have driven thousands of miles chauffering visiting delegates from Iraq from host famiies to peacemaking meetings and events at the University of Minnesota and elsewhere and that you can be found on any Wednesday on the bridge over the Mississippi protesting war and advocating for money to be used for human needs.
It is a true honor and an inspiration for us to get to know you and to recognize your lifetime of peacemaking and spiritual activism in this small way. There could not be a finer example than you that the spirit that motivated Sullivan Ballou is alive in the world today.
Congratulations!
Elissa and Bruce Peterson, Founding Members