Sr. Yvonne Nelson's Testimony in Support of SCR 4022
March 22, 2007
Chairman Haas and Members of the Committee: For the record,
I am Sister Yvonne Nelson, Director of the Peace Studies Forums, a ministry of the Sisters of the Presentation in Fargo. Our mission is to raise awareness of the need for peace and to offer opportunities to grow in the promotion of peace. We believe in the possibility of transcending a culture of violence with a culture of peace and hope.
At this time when 35 wars are being waged, when in Iraq alone, 3,200+ American soldiers have died and over 100,000 have been or will be maimed, when 655,000 Iraqis, including both soldiers and noncombatants, especially women and children, have been killed, when 532 billion dollars have been spent in destruction rather than in creative living, when we have 25,000 nuclear weapons, it is imperative that all of us search for alternatives to armed violence, to search for ways of peacemaking.
We all long for peace. But peace is not just the absence of war, repudiation of violence. Peace is a positive action, a power, which by its very nature, empowers others to be peaceful, to practice justice, to identify with the suffering, and to assume ethical responsibility. It acknowledges our common humanity. It models a way of acting and living, not only with those across the ocean, but also with those across the street. My faith teaches that the love of country cannot be higher than the love of neighbor.
The ND Peace Resolution is this kind of action, a desire for an alternative to the destruction and dissolution of war and violence. It begins a dialogue among those with fundamental differences, a dialogue which is not just for conversation nor conversion, but a search for the truth about what is right.(John Dear) Peace building like cathedral building is a long process. (Joan Chittister) For any body of people, such as the ND Legislature, to join their voices with countless others to bring about peace between and within other countries shows imagination, commitment and courage. It provides a vision that enables us to see not what is, but what ought to be. I am disappointed that the original resolution was amended; I think that was a stronger statement. Still, the one you are considering is a step in the right direction, a light of hope shining in the darkness. Einstein once said: There is nothing so great as an idea whose time has come. And the time has come to pass this peace resolution.