Peace Makers

We find ourselves in the middle of a very wet week in Southern California. Not being used to rain in these areas our drivers are creating all kinds of business for auto repair shops. Several of our schools and even colleges have closed for the rest of the week, including my alma mater, Cal-State Long Beach. But this is nothing compared to the potential for mud slides in the areas recently denuded by fires. All that being said, California in general and Southern California in particular continue to have the kind of weather that many envy, especially in the middle of the winter season.

The good weather notwithstanding, California has ceased to attract younger people and many young families are fleeing the state in search of less expensive real estate and governments more responsive to their needs. The traditional commitment of the California Legislature to good, reliable and inexpensive education is now a thing of the past. When I arrived in California in 1960 I was able to attend college for very little and received an education that made competitive with Ivy Leaguers when I went to Graduate School.

I feel for parents with young children who ask themselves how will they be able to afford a home, food and an education for their children. In the meantime our national policies continue to dedicate billions of dollars to a war economy. The prophets' dream of turning instruments of death into implements of life and growth seems farther away now than when those dreams were first shared.

In a few more days we will be observing the anniversary of the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. He was committed to a non-violent way of transforming society, one that inspired Martin Luther King Jr. Dorothy Day, Cesar Chavez and millions of nameless workers for peace and justice. If we are to move forward as a human race it is imperative that we turn ourselves into real pursuers of peace, for our sake and for the sake of at least two more generations after us.