Comments to Senator Maria Cantwell, April 14, 2026 As part of a delegation from the Friends Committee on National Legislation Like others in this group, I am a Quaker. For decades, I have been bemoaning bloated U.S. military spending. I marched against the Vietnam War. I protested the war on Iraq. But this war on … More Not a Penny More
“Peace is not the absence of war. It is the presence of justice.” Martin Luther King In my lifetime, there have been two previous big “peace accords” – Camp David (1978), associated with Jimmy Carter, and the Oslo Accords (1993 and 1995), associated with Bill Clinton. Neither worked. As just one example, the Oslo Accords … More The ceasefire October 2025
Today I am holding Israelis and Palestinians in a space of Divine Love as they find out whether the combatants agree to end the war. The positive responses from Arab states seems to say that there is enough justice in the proposals to put them in an acceptable range. The positive responses from many other … More The scariest Gaza news story from yesterday
[See Parts One and Two] The story of the Sand Creek Massacre dominates accounts of the interface between whites and Cheyenne and Arapaho people in the mid-1800s. The entire exhibit on them in History Colorado hinges on this event, which is identified as a day that changed everything. Traditionally, these two groups hunted, fished, and … More Family Journey – Part Three – After the turning point?
[See Part One] If sharing family histories as part of Quaker work on Right Relationships does nothing else, it leads us into place-based learning. I wanted to use our visit to Colorado to deepen my understanding of how indigenous people used the land before whites arrived and how it was stolen. It is a good … More Family Journey – Part Two – Land Evangelism
There are eleven people named Cozzens buried in Linn Grove Cemetery in Greeley, Colorado. I am related to all of them. Whose land are they in? Quakers are taking Right Relationships with Native People seriously. Workshops often begin with sharing family history. For me, a part of my family history was documented in 1980 by … More Family Journey – Part One – The Farm
The state of Israel was established in 1948. I was born in 1950. For my whole life, I have watched the headlines go by, on things like “the Arab/Israeli conflict” and “the Middle East peace process.” The Oslo Accords were signed; the Nobel Prize was awarded. I listened to reports of deeply moving messages in … More Why Gaza? Why now?
December 17, 2024 Some aspects of one’s own environment are more visible in contrast. An incident on our Miami to Philadelphia flight spoke to me about American history and the pain and conflict built into it. The regular boarding had finished and there were still a number of empty seats around us in the Comfort … More Chile and Philly, Part Two
December 17, 2024 Juan and I are on the fourth leg of travel, visiting four cities, three or four nights each, with two nights on planes. Friends have asked why we are traveling. For many years, I traveled for work, mostly to professional meetings to deliver papers or serve on boards, and Juan came along. … More Chile and Philly, Part One
Questions have been raised within AFSC about its track record on finances. A short presentation of answers to some of those questions appears at this link, with a focus on the time when I was Treasurer.
Finding My Place 