Re: Retaliate with love

Friends:
        It is time for some of us to introduce language to this dialog that is
less hawkish and more connected to a fuller understanding of justice
Jim

NAN OTTENRITTER wrote:
> 
> You all are going to HATE this -
> but I need to speak.
> 
> I'm having trouble with the word retaliate - look it up in your computer 
>thesaurus and you'll find "hit back, strike back, even the score,get revenge, 
>etc. The word itself is reactive (love is proactive), it keeps track - "even 
>the score" (love does not keep track or keep score), and it comes from a frame 
>of we/they/war.
> 
> I'd like to suggest saying "react with love" or something less war-like.
> 
> I'm really not trying to be the language police, but language is SO 
>important. The more intentional we can be with it, the better our peace-making 
>efforts!
> 
> Nan
> 
> Nan Ottenritter
> Coordinator, Bridges to Healthy Communities, Health and Wellness
> American Association of Community Colleges
> One Dupont Circle, Suite 410
> Washington, DC 20036
> PH: 202-728-0200, ext. 230
> FAX: 202-833-2467
> nottenritter@aacc.nche.edu
> Check out AACC's webpage at www.aacc.nche.edu.
> "The miracle is not to fly in the air, or to walk on the water, but to walk 
>on the earth." Chinese proverb
> 
> >>> "Clothier, Raymond" <clothrs@millsaps.edu> 09/12/01 11:29AM >>>
> Hearing from Stan on the efforts of those at LaGrange College to "retaliate
> with love" brought these words to mind:
> 
> . . . Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a
> night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out hate; only light
> can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that. Hate
> multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies
> toughness in a descending spiral of destruction. . . The chain reaction of
> evil -- hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars -- must be broken, or
> we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.
> 
> Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,  Strength to Love, 1963, p. 51
> 
> Peace to y'all,
> 
> Raymond Clothier
> Associate Director of the Faith and Work Initiative
> Millsaps College
> 1701 N. State Street
> Jackson, Mississippi 39210
> Phone: 601 974 1470
> Fax: 601 974 1470
> clothrs@millsaps.edu <mailto:clothrs@millsaps.edu>
> http://www.millsaps.edu/faithwrk <http://www.millsaps.edu/faithwrk>
> 

-- 
James W. Carignan
Dean of the College
Bates College
Lewiston, ME 04240
VOICE: (207) 786-6202
FAX:   (207) 786-8282