statement

Thank you for taking the time to visit my web pages. I have put a lot of time and work into and will be continuing to update them. I welcome comments, suggestions, corrections, and additions. Please email me and/or sign the guest book.

I have put these pages together primarily in response to the tragedies occurring in the United States on September 11, 2001, and the continuing repercussions and results. I know that the current situation is very difficult and there are no easy answers. I am not attempting to provide any comprehensive answer to the current situation. I only hope to present some alternatives that will hopefully make a positive difference in the long run. I also hope to provide resources for those look for ways to work for peace and justice.

We grieve with those who have lost love ones and friends, income and work, peace of mind and sense in security, in the wake of these acts of terrorism.

We cannot do anything to bring back those who were killed. We can, however, choose how we honor their memory and their families. We can choose to retaliate: perhaps to take more innocent lives, to take away civil liberties, to worsen the tragedy worldwide. We can choose to learn more about the roots of terrorism and hatred; the events, policies, and attitudes that have contributed to the situation; the changes we can make to prevent further violence. We can choose to work to end human rights violations and violence in the world, to bring social justice and peace to every person and every nation. We can choose to be led by our emotions: our fear, our anger, our grief, our betrayal. We can choose to follow leaders blindly, trusting them to decide for us. We can choose to educate ourselves and make informed choices about what we believe is right. We can act with wisdom, logic, love, integrity, and compassion. We can choose to react situation by situation, or we can choose to look at the larger picture, a global picture, to look to the future of all humanity. We do have choices in how we respond.

I believe peace is larger than any situation. For me, peace means not killing or harming more innocent people in response to a tragedy. For me, peace means trying to solve conflicts and problems non-violently. For me, peace is the recognition that all people are human and deserved to be treated humanely and with respect. All humans have basic rights. I am not advocating passiveness.

I am advocating thoughtful and compassionate responses, rather than for responding in-kind, violence for violence, hatred for hatred. I am advocating education and understanding. I am asking that we look at all people and see them as humans, as precious life, not as "us" and "them."

For me, peace is a personal choice first and foremost. One cannot expect peace in the world, if one is not at peace with oneself. Once one is at peace with oneself, one can move to work for peace in one's immediate environs and then outward. Peace for me is hope that someday more people will be at peace with themselves and therefore treat each other with respect and peace. I, for one, cannot be at peace with myself if I know people are being treated unjustly and my conscious is pricking me to acknowledge this fact and to work to make things better. I believe God calls us to be peacemakers and to work for peace in this world.

I am a citizen of the United States, but more importantly I am a citizen of the world
and a citizen of the kingdom of God/the Creator/a Higher Power. I believe the world is composed of human beings (as well as other living things) and that people in other parts of the world deserve to be treated as human beings as well. We are all people: erase the political, ethnic, religious, linguistic, social, economic, racial, gender, etc. lines, and we are all basically the same. I don't believe one nation is better than another, that one group deserves extra privilege or supremacy. We are all people, here on earth to survive, yes, but also, I believe, to make this world a better place for every living thing.

On these pages, you won't find ways to get back at terrorists or Osama bin Laden. You won't find support for punitive "justice." You won't find support for violent or military methods for resolving the current situations. I believe that not all judgment or consequences are to be faced on earth and in this life. I believe that God/Creator/Higher Power is still in change and that God/Creator/Higher Power will make final judgments on all of us for the lives we have lived on earth after our lives are done.

Thank you for allowing me to share my beliefs with you and for respecting them. I respect your own beliefs and do not wish to show disrespect for them.

Yours,
Jennifer Bradshaw

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last updated December 7, 2001