DISPATCH ONE:
In Washington DC for the March For Our Lives tomorrow. Over a million people are expected. Groups of young people spent the day visiting their legislators and walking the mall, the city, the monuments. I did a couple things that I needed to do to prepare: visited ancient bonsai trees at the National Arboretum and attend a prayer vigil at the National Cathedral tonight.
The oldest tree in the collection was tended by the same family since 1625. It survived the bombing in Hiroshima. In 1976, it was given to the American people in honor of the bicentennial. It is still thriving. These little trees - so carefully tended - outlive the generations of those who care for them. Like these ideals we struggle with - a world in which peace towards each other, rather than violence against one another - is the norm.
"We come here this evening to affirm that we are connected by an 'inescapable network of mutuality' and 'tied in a single garment of destiny. And whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly' it does not matter how large the city or how small the town -- trauma and sorrow claim far too many of our citizens. For too long the tears of frightened children, the cries of inconsolable parents and the weariness of long-suffering neighborhoods have been ignored. We declare on this day that our nation must turn from this patth of fear and destruction.
With all who join us - in cities and towns across this land - we here this night proclaim together in one voice:
From so many heartbreaks comes forth a united commitment to go into the streets of our cities and towns and promote a way of peace and well-being for all people. With compassion sown from the threads of sadness and horror, we will mend a nation tattered by gun violence and weave a new cloth of hope and peace."
The bonsais are a reminder of the careful tending we need to commit too - generation after generation. The prayer vigil reminds me that it only works when we come together.
Good night.
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