Looking ahead

Well, the countdown is in it's last days. In a little over a week I'll be making my way to Nicaragua. This fall has been a roller coaster of emotions. Coming back from Chicago, from my life at College, was a tough transition. I feel like only now am I getting accustomed to living at home in Cincinnati. I've established myself, made new friends, been working two great jobs, and have become quite comfortable. But now it's time to be flipped upside down again. I guess that is the way I can expect the next two years to be. To be honest, that's what I've come to expect from life. It is a constant cycle of building up and tearing down.

This past weekend I attended the annual protest and vigil at the School of the Americas at Fort Benning, GA. It was a wonderful time to reconnect with old friends from all over the country to also to prepare myself mentally and spiritually from my journey ahead. For those who are unfamiliar with the school it was started during the Cold War to train soldiers from Latin America and the Western Hemisphere to combat the spread of Communism. During the eighties and nineties especially there were reports coming out of the atrocities and human rights violations performed by graduates of this school, a school that is run, administered, and payed for by the US government. Graduates of the school were responsible for the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero, six Jesuit priests and their two community friends, 800 innocent men, women, and children of El Mozote, El Salvador, and countless others. Currently, many of the graduates are coming from Colombia and have been linked to brutal campaigns in the countries civil war between the government, guerrillas, death squads, and drug traffickers. Anyway, every year people meet outside the gates of Ft. Benning to call for the closing of the school. I believe with a new administration and congress the school with finally be closed. This is an incomplete analysis of the school. I encourage everyone to check it out for themselves. http://www.soaw.org/. There are people that disagree with me and others, who think the school is a crucial tool of national security. I welcome dialogue on the issue.
For me, more than anything, the weekend at the SOA is a time to commemorate the thousands of people who have died. It is a solemn time of remembrance. It is also a time for people from all over the country and the world to unite and share what they are doing to work for justice and peace.