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Open discussion forums feature topic of peace
By Danna Webster
KP News
A new
organization was initiated Aug. 11 by Key Peninsula
residents. The group, called Key Peacemakers, is
dedicated to dialogue, debate, education and activism,
with the focus on the subject of peace.
First meeting of the
Key Peacemakers held in August
had a good turnout. The steering committee
(left to
right, Betty McChord, Dory Myers, Martha Konicek)
encouraged an open discussion on the topic of
peace.
Photo by Danna Webster |
About 20
community members gathered for the first meeting of Key
Peacemakers, conducted by the organization’s steering
committee members Martha Konicek, Dory Myers and Betty
McChord. Konicek opened the meeting by expressing her
personal goal, which is “creating peace personally,
environmentally, locally, and globally,” and asked for
the audience to share their interests on the subject of
peace. There was a common theme expressed with regard to
war and the Middle East conflicts. People shared a need
to go beyond their own living room to express their
opinions and concerns about these matters.
Beyond
that common focus, the group was asked about their
individual issues and interests. After everyone had
shared their interests, backgrounds, experiences and
positions, a broad list of global, national and local
issues was generated. The list included: the Cuban
embargo, the war in Iraq, health care, immigration,
electoral college, terrorism, the homeless, high school
education, the United Nations, and peacemaker training.
As the
dialogue became lively, some speakers were cautious
about expressing their personal positions on issues, and
a need for ground rules was recognized. It was agreed
that finding a trainer in communication strategies
should become a priority. The peacemaker goal especially
supports the training idea. It is the group organizers’
intention to assure that the group has a way of sharing
passions and concerns, of building concerns with each
other, and of providing a forum for community exchange,
according to Konicek.
“We were
pleased,” Myers said after the meeting. “For one thing,
without too much publicity and mostly by word of mouth,
nearly 20 people attended —people we already knew and
some people we never met before. And each person in the
room expressed themselves, in a feeling and thinking
way, as to their own concerns and interests.”
A movie
and a rally were scheduled for the Peacemakers in
September. After the suggestion for training, a meeting
with a specialist in civic communication was added to
the schedule. This strategy meeting will focus on “how
to hold your own ground and still arrive at a peaceful
solution,” according to Myers.
As the
first meeting of the Key Peacemakers ended,
conversations continued among participants strolling out
of the library into the summer evening. It was
reminiscent of historians’ accounts of Key Peninsula
evenings about 100 years ago, when communities presented
lecturers and debates on the topics of current events.
©Copyright 2005-2008, Key Peninsula
News, all rights reserved.
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