Get in the way

By SKIP MENDLER

People are sometimes surprised to find out that although I’m a Quaker and a pacifist, I study a martial art. I hold a black belt in aikido, which focuses not on attacking others, but on defending oneself by redirecting or otherwise neutralizing an attacker’s force, transforming the situation from conflict to harmony. The many connections between peace/nonviolence work and aikido are fodder for a whole other essay, if not a book. But recent events make me want to look at one question in particular.

It’s one thing to be able to defend one’s own self from attack—but how do you respond when the subject of the attack isn’t oneself, but someone else?

It’s kind of obvious: you have to draw force away from the victim, and onto yourself.

Or, in other words: you have to get in the way.

“Get in the way” is the motto of the Christian Peacemaker Teams ( www.cpt.org ). The CPT came into the spotlight last year when four of their members, including American Tom Fox, were abducted while working in Iraq. Little was heard about their situation for weeks; then, a videotape was released showing three of the hostages, but not Fox—whose body was found shortly afterwards. Some commentators have called him and the CPT “misguided,” or said that he “failed.” But they fundamentally misunderstand what Fox and his compatriots are trying to accomplish, and ignored the success they are having.

For it’s not enough to draw force onto yourself—that’s just the beginning. You have to then transform that force. And Tom Fox and his supporters have done just that. They responded to Tom’s death not, to the bewilderment of the media, with calls for revenge, but with “a force more powerful:” love and forgiveness. They have thereby set an impressive example for the world to witness, and perhaps even to emulate.

Rachel Corrie was another person who got in the way. In her case, she got in the way of an Israeli bulldozer that was demolishing the home of a Palestinian family. Her death was three years ago as I write these words, on March 16, 2003. A play about her life, “My Name is Rachel Corrie,” that was going to be performed at a New York theatre was recently cancelled, apparently under political pressure. But in response, events have sprung up across the country to spread Rachel’s message (see rachelswords.org for more information).

And nearly a year ago, on April 16, 2005, Marla Ruzicka of Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC, see www.civicworldwide.org ), an activist who worked to support those caught in the crossfire in Iraq, was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad. I’ve started a website, www.amedalformarla.us, to promote the idea that Marla should be granted the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and/or its Congressional equivalent, the Congressional Gold Medal.

Tom and Rachel, of course, also deserve such recognition, as do the scores of others doing similar work, although they would never have sought it for themselves. But I feel strongly that we need to spread the idea that there are other possible responses to conflict besides more violence, responses that are meaningful and that make a difference. We have to encourage society to honor sacrifices like those made by Tom, Rachel, and Marla at least as much as the sacrifices of those who fall while carrying arms.

It’s ironic that media coverage of Tom Fox’s death was quickly shunted aside by the death of Slobodan Milosevic, one of the more brutal humans to come down the pike in recent years. We have to ask, what do we want: more Tom Foxes, Rachel Corries and Marla Ruzickas… or more Slobodan Milosevics? If the former, then we have to make sure that their message is heard, again and again, and that their courage is not forgotten. And we have to be ready ourselves to get in the way.