QUEST FOR LIFE

Once upon a time God called His favorite daughter, Love, into His Presence. There was trouble. On one of God's planets the highest form of Life had run amuck, and were threatening every living creature on the planet.

"Love," God said to His daughter. "Your evil sister, Fear, has taken possession of the souls of the people who inhabit one of my planets. Together with her evil knights, Confusion, Hatred, Greed, Lust, Sloth, and Pride, she has driven these people to the most depraved insanity."

"I will leave immediately, Father, to save your beautiful planet from my destructive sister." Said Love, always eager to do battle for life.

"Your servants, Understanding, Reason, Charity, Compassion, Industry, and Humility will accompany you to the planet. The conditions which Fear has set for the battle are theses:" God began to enumerate the groundrules for the latest duel in the ageless war between Love, and Fear. "You and Your servants will be born into the bodies of people on this planet. None of You, with the exception of Understanding, will have any memory of your existence here with me, of Your task, or of Your relationship to one another.

"Fear has enslaved the people by stealing the Sacred Pearl, and has hidden it in the mouth of a terrible dragon. Because the pearl has been hidden from the people, they have fallen under the power of Fear. The task set for You, and your servants is to wrest the Pearl from the mouth of the dragon, and return it to the Holy City."

"But how are We to accomplish this task with no memory of who we are, or what we are to do?" Love asked.

"Although he will have no memory of You, his task, or the others, Understanding will carry the spark of the Eternal Light. The Spark will;l never allow him to doubt my existence, thus he will not fall under the power of Fear.

"You Yourself will enter this planet under the most adverse conditions. The body You will inhabit will make your existence there most difficult, and trying. You may take nothing with You, save what You are, Love, and your invincible shield, forgiveness. In their insanity the entire planet will conspire to foully mistreat, use, abuse, and fail to appreciate you. So horrible Your life on this planet may become that even You, because you will not carry the Spark, may, at times, question my existence. During this time only forgiveness will protect You from Hatred, that most pervasive of murderers, and You will clearly observe the actions, and motives of the people on this planet. These observations will provide Your greatest tool."

"But Father, how shall I ever hope to overcome Evil from such a position of impotence, and isolation?"

By Yourself You will remain powerless. Your only hope will rest with Understanding, whose task it will be to discover you, and recognize You as the rightful Queen. Should Understanding perform his task faithfully then Your union with him will provide a point to which Reason, Charity, Compassion, Industry, and Humility may rally if they have remained faithful to their mission. Faith is the all important key. Your servants will enter this planet armed only with free will, which, as you well know, can be either a blessing, or a curse. Should they exercise their free will with faithful wisdom......choosing to reject the insanity of the planet, and to cherish Our Values of Truth, Justice, and Freedom...then the vision of Your servants will remain clear enough for them to throw off the shackles of fear, and the planet she controls. If Your servants come to Your support by working together You, and they will have the Power of Unity, against which Fear, and her evil minions cannot stand. Should Your servants fail us; Fear will prevail, and insanity will destroy the planet."

"I go, Father. Have mercy on the souls of My servants."


THE BEGINNING

I knew, and met all kinds of people...men and women alike...and these people all treated...me an' my husband real good...all of us stayed and slept in tents...even in cold nights with blankets...and both of us think of them...brothers and sisters...


Inaugural Articles - 1997 - 1993 - 1989 - 1985 - 1981 -

January 1997

In case you're looking for us (White House Peace Vigil - Peace Park anti-nuclear vigil - and friends) our signs have been moved across Lafayette Park to H Street, as has happened every four years since the vigil began in June, 1981.

Meanwhile a dozen large mobile homes rest on the grass of the southern half of Lafayette Park for the construction crews' comfort. Police patrol regularly, in part to make sure no homeless people crawl under the empty trailers in the icy dark of night. The bricks where office workers and tourists usually walk have been torn up, and huge - ugly - three-story bleachers rise in the space where our vigil normally stands, along the north side of Pennsylvania Avenue, so the press -- for one afternoon -- may stay warm and dry and near bathrooms while President Clinton has his second inaugural parade. The bathrooms on the north side of the park are locked, though construction workers again (as in past years) have for their use several porta-johns which are locked at night. Fences of every variety are intricately laid out to block demonstrators into the northeast corner of the park during the Big Event.

Ronald Reagan tried to have a second inaugural parade but it was so cold Inauguration Day 1985, the president had to call it off, and the quarter-million-dollar bleachers went unused. We were shivering and dancing in the northeast quadrant of the park, giving credit to God for a good sense of humor.

The vigil began five months after Reagan's first inauguration. At that time, people were allowed to demonstrate on the White House sidewalk. After a campaign by the Washington Times in 1983, new regulations were written banishing the vigil to Lafayette Park. During the wee hours of the morning, when tourists weren't about, police hovered and often arrested the vigilers. Department of Interior lawyers wrote a "camping" regulation which was used to criminalize (see CCNV case, U.S. Supreme Court, 1984) what was formerly protected behavior (see Abney case, U.S. Court of Appeals, 1976).

Since there are private citizens who insist on paying for this desecration of Lafayette Park every four years (via the Inaugural Committee), we're stuck with the bleachers again this year. So I'm writing President Clinton asking him, as I asked President Reagan in 1985, at least to leave the bleachers up for the rest of the winter, for homeless people to get out of the cold, wet, snowy, icy streets. I'm not asking for us -- we will remain at our signs with the minimal amount of protection necessary to survive. We are asking on behalf of the homeless sleeping on the DC streets (in spite of police harassment) ... still, after all these years.

Ellen Thomas
PEACE PARK ANTINUCLEAR VIGIL
PO Box 27217, Washington, DC 20038 USA
202-462-0757
prop1@prop1.org


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