This week I received an email from Glenn Gable, of San Francisco, who says he’ll be in Phoenix during the month of March and hopes to join a peace vigil in our area while he’s here! I told him about several groups meeting in Phoenix, but don’t know of an actual vigil of the kind we’re talking about in the Valley of the Sun. Then I told him about Tony Fasline’s Movable Peace Vigils every Friday here in Casa Grande, so he might be able to make it all the way down here and stand with us from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. on a Friday afternoon. We certainly hope that can happen.
Meanwhile, Glenn told me he often joins a regular Peace Vigil held in downtown San Francisco every Thursday from 12:00 noon to 1:00 p.m. in front of the old Federal Building in the Civic Center on the corner of Golden Gate Avenue at Larkin Street. The vigil’s been going strong since Fall 2001 and now involves an average of 15 people, and visitors are always welcome.
When he messaged those facts to me, I told Glenn he’d sparked a serious case of “vigil envy” in us here in Casa Grande. Tony and I would love to have more people join him every Friday--and me when I can make it out to stand with him, which isn’t as often as I’d like. I hope we can keep on doing this for many years to come, for as long as it’s needed.
Of course, one can also hope that in 10 years, these vigils will no longer be needed, and American society will finally understand the moral imperative--not to mention the economic benefits--of finding peaceful, win-win-win solutions to society’s problems, both within our country and around the world. Until then, those of us who understand that promise have to keep on speaking for a better way to do things.
For a long list of peace vigils that are held all over the Bay Area, check out this web page: http://upj-bayarea.org/vigils/
Wow! After looking over this list, I’ve developed a totally terminal case of “vigil envy”! My heart and hopes are with all those True Believers in the San Francisco area. I hope and pray that one day we in southern Arizona will be able to match the zeal of our fellow peace activists in northern California.
And here are some articles and/or pictures on the vigils that I found just by googling “San Francisco peace vigil”:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35588593@N05/3819795052/
http://wrmea.com/component/content/article/4765-south-asians-hold-peace-vigil-in-san-francisco.html
http://www.utahpeace.org/vigil.htm
http://www.sfquakers.org/peajus.html
http://news.sfzc.org/content/view/713/52/
http://www.warmoratorium.org/reports-from-the-field/184-haight-ashbury-peace-vigil-san-francisco-ca.html
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=81996593599
http://yubanet.com/california/Penn-Sheehan-Gonzalez-to-Address-March-16th-Peace-Vigil-in-San-Francisco.php
http://business.highbeam.com/4987/article-1G1-196581126/south-asians-hold-peace-vigil-san-francisco
That was just the first page that came up on Google. The site promised about 73,500 results. Good going, San Francisco!
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