Martin Luther King Jr. Day-The beginning of the journey

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day! Today means a little something different to me. Martin Luther King Jr. was a great inspiration to my grandfather.  Grandpa had me read a piece of writing from King at his funeral. King’s thoughts on unity, love, and peace were what touched grandpa.  My grandfather was a conscientious objector during WWII. During that time, he performed Civilian Public Service at a CPS camp in Ohio (see http://civilianpublicservice.org/camps/23/1). He was there from 1942 to 1946 (from the time he was 30 to 34 years old) and helped with soil conservation and dairy herd testing projects. The CPS’ers also published a monthly newsletter called the “Seed.” Grandpa carried on this practice later in life, writing his own monthly newsletters called “The Peace Advocate.” My grandfather was one of the few people I know who actually LIVED what they believe. He used to pass out his newsletter at church and often called in to a specific radio program to voice his thoughts on how peaceful approaches could be ascribed to the most recent current event. He believed in selflessness. I remember him talking to me once about prayer, stating that we should never pray for ourselves, always for other people. He said that if we all did that, everyone would be taken care of.  When I talked to him about his beliefs, he was always torn between the Old Testament “eye for an eye” God and the New Testament’s “love your enemies” God and could never seem to reconcile the two.  This conflict was illustrated by the fact that his bible was very very worn and only held together by duct tape.

Although I grew up with a Christian background and have read the bible from cover to cover, my bible isn’t nearly as tattered and my beliefs are more. . . spiritual(?).  Before my grandfather passed, I helped him organize his writings and he sent some of them to the radio personality whom he’d developed a relationship with. He really wanted to make sure that the message of peace got out there for anyone interested to read.  To be clear, he would have never called it his message, [maybe His message]. Grandpa always gathered writings and quotes from the bible and other activists like King and Gandhi and applied their words to current situations. Although his newsletters were specific to events at their time (mostly in the 90’s), the messages are still very applicable to today’s events.  This blog is my attempt to learn more about whom conscientious objectors were.  I also want to honor my grandfather’s spirit of getting a peaceful message out there but I’m not exactly sure what that message is or how to do that yet (this blog, a book?).  I’ve wanted to start this process for years but have always been afraid that I wouldn’t be able to honor a man whom I have so much love, respect, and admiration for.  I was also afraid that since my beliefs aren't exactly the same as my grandfathers, I may not be able to really present the message he wanted. My husband will be the first to tell you that I'm a horrible pacifist (I really want to be but its a huge struggle to control your emotions and oppose your gut reactions). I had an instructor who recently challenged that fear, so I’ve decided at least to try to take that first step. This is the beginning of that journey.

The first thing I want to do is learn as much as I can about my grandfather’s personal experience becoming a CO and his experience at the camps. I found a great website (see links) which listed his name as one of 12,000 that were in CPS camps during WWII. These men (mostly. There were a few women) made contributions to soil science, mental health care, and fire fighting.  From the little I’ve read so far in their first-hand accounts, it seems like, those that wrote about it, really wanted to contribute to their fellow country men and do “work of national importance.” My goal is to work through the reference list that I put together from the website that listed grandpa’s name and write about my findings every week.  I also have some of grandpa’s old newsletters that I’ll post too. If there are any other people who have had family who were CO’s, I’d love to hear from you. Please fill out the contact form with your information. We’ll see where this journey will lead.  Peace be with you.