Compelling energy—the thousands of activists who over fifty years ago in 1963 committed themselves to nonviolence and marched courageously in Birmingham for all. Spawning several grassroots movements, Dr. Martin Luther King’s candid “Letter from Birmingham City Jail” called people to pledge not only to march for justice, but also to make active nonviolence a way of life, to resist violence in all its forms and to pursue a global vision of transformation.
The simplicity of that original pledge resounds yet today. It stated: “I hereby pledge myself—my person and body—to the nonviolent movement. Therefore I will keep the following ten commandments:
- Meditate daily on the teachings and life of Jesus.
- Remember always that the nonviolent movement seeks justice and reconciliation, not victory.
- Walk and talk in the manner of love, for God is love.
- Pray daily to be used by God in order that all men and women might be free.
- Sacrifice personal wishes in order that all men and women might be free.
- Observe with both friend and foe the ordinary rules of courtesy.
- Seek to perform regular service for others and for the world.
- Refrain from the violence of fist, tongues, or heart.
- Strive to be in good spiritual and bodily health.
- Follow the directions of the movement.”
Simply stated this pledge of nonviolence offers us yet today a vision of the peaceful world we long to birth, free of war, poverty, racism, sexism, corporate greed, catastrophic climate change, nuclear weapons … Maybe the “new way of being” pre-COVID, during COVID and post-COVID is a path ever ancient, ever new: “Meditate. Remember. Walk. Pray. Sacrifice. Observe. Seek. Refrain. Strive. Follow.”
Will we sign and walk?
—Ann Jackson, PBVM, Prairiewoods spiritual services coordinator