They're free!

This morning, when the alarm reminded me that it was time to roll out of bed, the first thing my foggy brain registered was the voice of Terry MacLeod telling me (and all the other listeners out there in radio-land) that the three members of the Christian Peacemaker Teams had been released by their captors in Iraq. Hurray! What a long and painful time it must have been for their families, waiting, hoping, and praying for this day to come. I can hardly imagine the anquish. At the same time, their day of celebration must be somewhat bittersweet, knowing that one of the four hostages did not make it out alive.

Perhaps because it was my waking thought, it's been on my mind for much of the day. I had a striking thought. In the spirit of John Lennon's song, "Imagine"... imagine if all the countries involved in the "war on terror" were willing to spend as much money, and send as many people overseas to work on peacebuilding (the kind of work the CPTs were doing) as they do for their armies and warfare. Imagine if their policies were less about "protecting our citizens against the axis of evil" and more about working toward global peace. Imagine if there were as many people willing to serve with CPT as there are in the U.S. Army. Imagine...

Yes, I know I'm a bit of a dreamer, but wouldn't it be a powerful thing if we all had the same dream? In that spirit, I plan to sent a donation to CPT. I figure if I'm willing to pay taxes, some of which goes toward supporting our army, then I should be willing to spend a little money supporting peace too.