In October 1944, it was my privilege to be one of the Canadian conscientious objectors who had volunteered for service with Friends Ambulance Unit (FAU) in China. I had come to Pendle Hill for training, which included study of the Chinese language and culture under the tutelage of a charming Chinese woman. It was augmented […]
Tag Archives | Social Action
Service in the Friends Ambulance Unit
Edwin V. Abbott, a member of Simcoe-Muskoka Meeting in Ontario, Canada, is a retired physician.
Posted in: Features
What Would Jesus (Have Me) Do?
"Come, Holy Spirit." This was the first message at the October 10, 2010, meeting for worship. It settled me further into expectant waiting but no further into worship. Sometimes worship comes easily. Most times I have to work at finding worship within me. This meeting was not easy. When I’m restless at meeting, I examine […]
Edna Whittier, a member of Roanoke (Va.) Meeting, joined Friends at Red Cedar Meeting in East Lansing, Mich., and attended Dover- Randolph Meeting in Randolph, N.J. In each of these meetings, she has been active in monthly Meeting for Healing groups.
Posted in: Features
The Weekend: Thoughts on Community
That weekend started the week before, when it snowed almost two feet on Thursday and Friday morning. I spent a lot of time getting the stuff off my driveway, steps, and walk, and a lot of time with the volunteer ambulance. The town I live in has mountainous terrain (at a modest elevation) on the […]
Paul Hamell, a member of Ridgwood (N.J.) Meeting, is a retired police lieutenant and a volunteer emergency medical technician.
Posted in: Features
U.N. Climate Talks and the Prevention of Violent Conflict
I was thrilled to attend the UN climate negotiations in Tianjin, China, this past October and the larger Conference of the Parties (COP) in Cancún, Mexico, from November 29 to December 10. I attended the talks as part of the "Adopt a Negotiator" project (www.adoptanegotiator.org), which brings young people from all over the world to […]
Alexandra Stark, a member of Moorestown (N.J.) Meeting, is a program assistant in the Peaceful Prevention of Deadly Conflict program of Friends Committee on National Legislation.
Posted in: Features
Helping North Americans Experience Nicaragua
This year marks the 25 year anniversary of ProNica, and an important part of ProNica’s mission has always been to encourage North Americans, particularly young people, to visit Nicaragua and learn about its history, its culture, and its efforts to build a more equitable future for the vast majority of its citizens who live in […]
Kathy Hersh is a member of Miami (Fla.) Meeting and on the board of ProNica. Her interest in the Nicaraguan people stems from her experience as a journalist covering the Nicaraguan civil war in 1978-79.
Posted in: Features
Quaker Education in Bolivia
The special October 2010 issue of FRIENDS JOURNAL on Friends and Education focuses usefully on Quaker schools in the United States. Friends in the United States, however, are also deeply involved with Friends education in Africa and Latin America, as well as in education outside of schools. Just within New York Yearly Meeting there are […]
A Legacy of Excellence in Education: High Point Normal and Industrial Institute
One of the major endeavors of Quakers has always been education —not just education for a select few or for males only, but education for all regardless of gender or class. After the Civil War, Quakers realized that there was a desperate need to educate recently freed slaves. Those newly freed men and women needed […]
Linda Willard, a member of Marlboro Meeting in Sophia, North Carolina, lives in High Point with her husband Harold. She is employed as office support/administrative assistant to the principal of William Penn-Alfred J. Griffin School for the Arts. She is the author of three books about Quakers: Who? What? When? Where? Quaker Trivia; Quakers Preserved; and Quakers in Conflict.
Posted in: Features
Jury Duty: Complicity in the Penal System?
The prison system in the United States is a cruel warehousing institution that neither rehabilitates nor protects society. Millions of individuals are imprisoned—many in conditions that would besmirch any human rights report. Quakers work for reform of this system, either through visitation, Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) training, or encouraging our legislators to do away […]
Rob Callard, a member of Charleston (W. Va.) Meeting, attends Friends Meeting of Washington (D.C.).
Posted in: Features
Stolen Goods: The Myth of Financial Sovereignty
You deserve a break today." "God rewards faithful followers with prosperous living." "I earned it; I deserve to enjoy it." Whether a corporate jingle, smarmy phrases from a fundamentalist preacher, or our own ego justifying a comfortable lifestyle, the concept that financial resources that come our way— through employment, inheritance, or gambling in the stock […]
Chuck Hosking, a member of Harare (Zimbabwe) Meeting, lives in Albuquerque, N.Mex.
Posted in: Features
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August 2017
The Art of Dying and the Afterlife
Unaccompanied by Boyce Upholt
Heaven-based Living by Michael Resman
Children and Death by John Graham-Pole
Weeping to Joy by Betsy Blake
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Letter to a Friend reading Reinhold Niebuhr
A friend recently wrote that he had been reading essays that Reinhold Niebuhr wrote for various periodicals in the 1920s and ’30s, and was impressed by Niebuhr’s sensitivity to injustice and his detailed knowledge of the injustices uncovered in that period. These injustices were often both the result of violence and the seeds of further […]
Posted in: Features