Let the inspections work, Rep. Sherwood

By BEVERLY STERNER

It was a delegation of ten of us that brought Congressman Sherwood a petition with pages of signatures from his constituents last Tuesday, January 21. Simultaneously, 9,000 delegates brought over 300,000 signatures to 500 Congressional offices across this nation to urge the President to “Let the Inspections Work.”

The petition campaign was organized through MoveOn.org, an Internet-based grassroots organization, which itself belongs to a larger coalition “Win Without War.” WWW includes several churches, the Sierra Club, and Physicians for Social Responsibility, to name a few. They asked for volunteers to join small delegations to present the petition to congressional representatives. That’s how I signed up.

It was almost inconsequential that neither Rep. Sherwood nor any of his aides were there to receive us. They were attending Governor Rendell’s inauguration in Harrisburg. We had to gather around the speaker phone in order to deliver our message to Sherwood’s spokesman, Jake O’Donnell, and so we did. One after the other, we made our deep concerns and disagreements known.

We oppose this rush to war. We want to give the inspections time. We want a diplomatic settlement. We want to work in cooperation with other nations. And we want our representatives in Congress to recognize that we are a part of a growing majority of Americans who are opposed to this rush to war.

As Mr. O’Donnell and the receptionist listened to us, we also listened to each other. We made our points and presented persuasive information in our own words. What a good group of concerned citizens we were! I felt proud.

We returned to the MacDonald’s next doors after the “meeting” and talked a bit more as we got to know each other a little. All of us were different, from different backgrounds, mothers, fathers, grandparents, teachers, business people—all taking the time from our busy lives to exercise our democratic rights and speak out about this dangerous policy our government is pursuing. It was inspiring to meet each other and to realize that, whether or not Bush or Sherwood “receive” us, in our presence and in our perseverance, we are not alone and we are not going away—and that is of real consequence—a lasting consequence.