MCC Relief Kit dedication

by: Jane Yoder-Short

I am shopping -- just in case the president doesn't heed my words, just in case the voices for peace are disregarded, just in case war breaks out. I'm shopping for some hope along with items for a Relief Kit for Iraq.

I pick up some toothpaste and toothbrushes and some hope that we can be as concerned with preventing violence as we are with preventing tooth decay. Can we brighten our imaginations to look beyond bloody solutions for world problems.

I pick up four bars of bath soap and hope that we can wash our mouths with a little caution. Can we put on hold derogatory and inflammatory remarks about Mohammed, Arabs and Islam?

I pick up a bottle of shampoo and some hope that conditions in Iraq will soften. Life for the ordinary person has been hard. Can human compassion reach across borders and begin to heal the hardships of sanctions?

I pick up a box of powdered laundry detergent and hope that we are willing to see our own dirty laundry. Who sold Iraq her weapons? Who has already used weapons of mass destruction? Can we learn from our soiled history?

I pick up one hairbrush, a comb and some hope that political entanglements and power struggles can begin to resolve. No amount of untangling can make one country entirely good and another country purely evil. Can we see the tangle of good and evil within ourselves?

I pick up a fingernail clipper and hope we can trim our oil consumption. If we were less dependent on Middle East oil how would our policies change?

I pick up a box of adhesive bandages and some hope that we will realize the depth of past wounds. Muslims remember the Crusades, Western colonialism, the emergence Israel, and the more recent confrontations between Western and Islamic powers. Can we learn to not cover deep wounds with inadequate understanding?

I pick up four bath towels and dream that they could wipe away the threat of chemical and biological weapons. Can we find ways to feel safe that don't depend on threatening annihilation?