[R-G] Rice for Peace

[Edward Craig]

	If you do this, label the envelope with a big "RICE FOR PEACE"
notice.

	Even if you're not sending it to a Democrat, you can't blame the
Postal Service and government staffers for being a bit jumpy about odd
inclusions in letters. Anthrax.

On Fri, 31 Jan 2003 DavidMcR at aol.com wrote:

>   
>    (pass on to others)
>    
>    My first response to this idea was not to pass it on - I get a great many 
>  "brilliant ideas" in the email. But this one seems to have caught on. I've 
>  already gotten it from at least three of you to whom this goes (just so 
>  you'll know I paid attention).
>    
>    It is a small idea, the sort of thing that can be done by the weak, the 
>  elderly, as well as by the young. I think it's worth doing - and I will. I 
>  hope you do and pass this post on. I'm going through by address book, ten 
> and 
>  twenty at a time, and passing it on.
>    
>    David
>    
>    << 
>     From: Katha Pollitt
>     Subject: Rice for peace
>     
>     This is such a sweet, simple idea! Even my daughter, who
>     never misses a chance to tell me she isn't interested in
>     politics, seized on it right away. You can leave out the
>     biblical citation, of course. But I like the idea of
>     quoting the New Testament against war to our born-again
>     Pres. My cousin in Boone, North Carolina, tells me
>     people are actually sending the rice.
>     
>     Katha
>     
>     > Resistance with a history of success--from the
>     > Mennonite community
>     
>     > Place 1/2 c. uncooked rice in a small plastic bag (a
>     > snack-sized bag or sandwich bag work fine). Squeeze
>     > out excess air and seal the bag. Wrap it in a piece of
>     > paper on which you have written: " 'If your enemies
>     > are hungry, feed them.' Romans 12:20 Please send this
>     > rice to the people of Iraq; do not attack them."
>     
>     > Place the paper and bag of rice in an envelope (either
>     > a letter-sized or small padded mailing envelope - both
>     > are the same cost to mail) and address them to:
>     
>     > President George Bush
>     > White House - 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
>     > Washington, DC 20500
>     
>     > Attach $1.06 in postage. (Three 37 cent stamps equal
>     > $1.11)
>     
>     > Drop this in the mail TODAY. It is important to act
>     > NOW so that President Bush gets the letters asap. In
>     > order for this protest to be effective, there must be
>     > hundreds of thousands of such rice deliveries to the
>     > White House. We can do this if we all forward this
>     > message to our friends and family. If every Mennonite
>     > and every Church of the Brethren household sent one of
>     > these, and the tens of thousands of persons from
>     > outside these churches who think war is a mistake also
>     > send them...we are hundreds of thousands of people!
>     > There is a positive history of this protest! Read on!
>     
>     > "In the mid 1950s, the pacifist Fellowship of
>     > Reconciliation, learning of famine in the Chinese
>     > mainland, launched a "Feed Thine Enemy" campaign.
>     > Members and friends mailed thousands of little bags of
>     > rice to the White House with a tag quoting the Bible,
>     > "If thine enemy hunger, feed him." As far as anyone
>     > knew for more than ten years, the campaign was an
>     > abject failure. The President did not acknowledge
>     > receipt of the bags publicly; certainly no rice was
>     > ever sent to China. "What nonviolent activists only
>     > learned a decade later was that the campaign played a
>     > significant, perhaps even determining role in
>     > preventing nuclear war. Twice while the campaign was
>     > on, President Eisenhower met with the Joint Chiefs of
>     > Staff to consider US options in the conflict with
>     > China over two islands, Quemoy and Matsu. The generals
>     > twice recommended the use of nuclear weapons.
>     > President Eisenhower each time turned to his aide and
>     > asked how many little bags of rice had come in. When
>     > told they numbered in the tens of thousands,
>     > Eisenhower told the generals that as long as so many
>     > Americans were expressing active interest in having
>     > the US feed the Chinese, he certainly wasn't going to
>     > consider using nuclear weapons against them." 
>     
>     > From: People Power: Applying Nonviolence Theory by 
>     > David H. Albert, p. 43, New Society, 19.
>     
>     > Thank you all for being people of hope, people of
>     > faith.
> 
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-- 
Ed Craig                                epcraig at efn.org
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