Hope

So I haven't had as much time this week to work my way through my books. There has been one thing that has been on my mind as I'm reading through Men of Peace edited by Mary Hopkins though. The stories of these people are positive despite hardships and have constant examples of hope. That is something that I believe is a common struggle. I've often thought things like, what could I do to make a difference in this huge universe?, what good do my actions do to effect a change? Of the few stories I've read so far about the men's experiences of being a pacifist during WWII and what that has meant to them in their lives, they've all provided very different answers, very different levels of activism, and different experiences that they are proud of. They all share a strong feeling of hope.  I believe that one difference between this pervasive feeling of hope that the pacifists have vs my struggle with ineffectiveness is a difference between internal and external perspectives.  The CO stories exemplified the idea that learning peaceful means to solve problems is a much larger and complex external issue that is more important and worth fighting for than any one of us and should be the focus of our efforts instead of our own perceived in-effectiveness. I also listened to a podcast with an interview with a civil rights activist and pacifist. The activist stated that history gives us hope. Individual people and groups of people involved in "movements" have contributed to great positive change. We've already done it, so we should keep doing it. That gave me the slap in the face to stop focusing on yourself and figure out how to help. The pacifist also brought up that there are many layers to any issue and focusing on them as a whole can be daunting so we should try to focus on the changes we can make in our own smaller circles. To paraphrase (in my words), Smelling the whole onion with all its layers can make you cry but if you focus on a few small pieces, it can make the difference between a mediocre dinner and a taste-bud tantalizing one.

Scary step into the step into my brain this week. I'll get back to the COs of WWII next time. Peace

Love and camp #21

I just finished the story of CPS camp #21 located in Cascade Locks. It was nice to read about what daily life was like at one of these camps. The book really gave the sense that even though these men shared a common belief, they were still very diverse in how that belief was carried out. The camp was very organized and the men produced several publications, created and put on plays, and had speakers come to the camps.

The book also told the story of George Yamada who was a Japanese-American CO at the camp. Since the camp was in the area along the west coast where Japanese-American's were rounded up and put into camps during  WWII, Mr. Yamada was ordered to go to one of these internment camps. The men at camp #21 wrote letters against the order and eventually Mr. Yamada was able to move to another CPS camp which was located outside of the relocation area.  During that process, camp #21 received a letter from grandpa's camp in support of efforts to not comply with the order. It made me proud.

The Cascade Locks CPS camp story also told the story of a CO who had a family back home who depended on him financially. The CO decided to enter the military against his beliefs so that he could support his family. That story really illustrated that even though these men were relatively isolated, they depended on their families and church members to support them and their families while they were at the camp (receiving no pay). The financial struggles must have put a lot of stress on relationships.  I haven't read any personal accounts yet that go into this.

I was also reading and thinking about this post over Valentine's Day weekend which of course is about love. I was reflecting on the power of love which has helped my family get through some very trying times. Love has been my motivator through some really tough times and (in my experience at least) grows stronger by creating peace on the other side of the struggle. Sometimes, it's extremely hard to draw on that motivation/love in the heat of the battle or internal struggle. Even trying to draw on my own experience to relate to these COs during WWII, I come up very short. I can't imagine the the struggle to find their motivation. I look forward to gaining a better sense of this in my next read which is the personal stories of 30 different COs during WWII.

Love and Peace

History and Jail

Over the past week, I finished the story of the head of the CPS. It was a historical account, meaning that I had to fight a little more to get through it. The fear that pacifism would spread was pervasive throughout the implementation of the CPS camps. Much was done to keep the CPSers out of sight and away from the majority. In one example, the administrators of the camp (Selective Service) worked with several other groups to take part in projects that benefited areas of the economy where labor was in short supply while also providing the CPSers with alternative forms (more meaningful/more national important) of community service. One project was providing labor in schools. Even though the schools were asking for the help, the administrators did not want the pacifists spreading their beliefs to the children and the project was not approved.

I also finished the Garas' A Few Small Candles book which was a collection of memoirs from conscientious objectors who had gone to prison instead of register for the draft or go to CPS camps. Many of the inmates were very active going on hunger strikes, desegregation strikes, and being overall pains to the prison system. Many of them were transferred to the same group of prisons and knew each other well. Most of them described great determination and discipline and often went through great physical and emotional hardship in support of their ideals. A few also elaborated on the struggle they had with their decisions and the perceived futility of acts of civil disobedience from such a small minority of people. 

I was trying to figure out who Grandpa's influences may have been at the time, given what was going on at the time. Most of the people who were included in the memoirs spoke of Gandhi which leads me to believe that his story was well known at the time.  There also appeared to be a few kind of superstars in the pacifist community who stood out. Many of them wrote books about their experiences. A few that I'd like to read more about is David Dillinger and James Peck

If you are more of a video person, here is a brief history of one CO during WWI  http://youtu.be/nZrvUp4q7WQ

Fun pictures and the CPS Frozen Fund

In the past week, I've read Keim's Illustrated History of CPS and Nolt's article about the Frozen Fund. In Keim's work, I found a few photos from the camp that grandpa worked at and one that I think he is actually in! I posted the photos in their own separate page. There is a photo of the soil lab where grandpa may have done work although he's not in the picture. The book was really interesting and told a really good story about what daily life was like and how the CPSers filled their time. It also went into great detail about the severe labor shortages at mental health hospitals and farms.  It was very sad to see pictures and read about the deplorable conditions these people were in. One health worker to 300 patients, clothing shortages, and incontinence leading to groups of naked, filthy, miserable people. The CPS works tried to do what they could to clean the people and the building and provide them with clothes and blankets when they could.

Farm shortages led to an alternative work program that grandpa was involved with (camps 97 and 100.)  He traveled around to local farms and tested milk which is categorized as CPS unit 100. According to Nolt's article, since the Selective Service didn't want to take jobs away from those who needed them by providing free labor to businesses, the businesses were required to pay the CPSers. But, since the CPSers weren't allowed to get paid, the money had to go into what was called "The Frozen Fund." The original idea was to use the funds for foreign recovery projects at the end of the war. Nolt goes on to explain all the ways in which the historic peace churches tried to appropriate these funds to recovery projects by proposed bills in congress. Many attempts were made to fund different projects including UNICEF, a program called CARE to provide technical books to Europe after their resources had been destroyed, as well as a few others. All of these attempts failed for various reasons. One failed because an opinion that the funds should not go to the United Nations which was already funded by the US prevailed. Another attempt failed because the congressman who proposed the bill was an entry on a list of congressmen who were communists. In general, Nolt sums it up saying The peace churches' simple plans and requests met with success in creating the CPS program because the state, too, wanted to avoid dealing with COs in World War I style (most were imprisoned and many died due to poor treatment). When the same type of simple plans and requests-this time to release the frozen fund-came from the peace churches following the end of the war, the requests were unsuccessful in part because the state had no substantial stake in seeing the plans carried out.

In the end, the ~$1.2 million (1945) earned by the ~1200 CPS service men who volunteered for these positions was appropriated to the general treasury fund and not used for its intended purpose.

As promised, I posted one article from grandpa's newsletter called The Peace Advocate. The articles that I have that he wrote were from the 90's.