On Faith
David Swann
Pastor asks why bad things happen to good people
The unlikely alliance between
a Quaker and a Vietnam War
veteran has helped thousands
in war-ravaged VietnamWhat is the difference between "religious" and "spiritual"? After getting involved in a charitable organization named Winds of Peace based on the mainland, I realized that there is a difference, but the two concepts share a fundamental common ground: compassion.
An example of this shared ground is the relationship between two men named Mike Boehm and Joe Elder. Boehm is an Army veteran who is still struggling with his involvement in what he calls "the atrocious Vietnam War." Elder is part of a small group of Quakers in Madison, Wis., who have their own history with that war that goes back more than 30 years.
Together, Boehm and Elder and the Wisconsin Quakers have helped create loan programs for poor women in Vietnam; sponsored the building of clinics, schools and peace parks; and even created an art exchange program between Vietnamese and Madison schoolchildren.
Elder sees the Quakers' link with Boehm as the perfect symbiotic relationship. "Without Mike, our Madison Quaker meeting couldn't do anything in Vietnam," he says. "I guess if Mike didn't have us, he would have a hard time getting much done there, too, so we both really help each other. Mike is an amazingly committed person," Elder says. "I'm happy we met."
Boehm adds, "I admire the Quakers, but my relationship is not religious. It's a partnership in order to do things that we both consider important and humane."
Boehm and Elder now estimate that their group has raised more than $350,000 for various projects in Vietnam since 1993. They have provided 1,500 women in nine different villages with loans.
After joining the Army and volunteering to go to Vietnam in late 1967, Boehm arrived there in January 1968.
"After I got out, I finally realized how much being involved in the brutality of the war had affected me. Then I began to get angry."
After going through a period of anger over the war, Boehm put his newly learned carpentry skills to positive use instead of dwelling on the negative.
"In 1992, I traveled back to Vietnam with 11 other American veterans to Dong Nai province to help build a medical facility in the village of Xuan Hiep," Boehm says. "This event changed my life."
"While working on the clinic in 1992, I became aware that I had many unresolved issues concerning the war," Boehm says. "I couldn't take the death of 3 million people and the un-quantifiable destruction that occurred. What rose up out of that stew of emotions was to go to My Lai. For me the massacre at My Lai has been representative of the whole war. So I went there and played taps on my violin as an offering to the spirits of the dead, both Vietnamese and American."
My Lai was the site of the worst documented war crime committed by the American military. On March 16, 1968, 504 unarmed Vietnamese old men, women, children and infants were tortured, raped and killed by American soldiers.
Elder's story is also remarkable. He explains the Quaker philosophy that God exists in all human beings, that therefore one should not kill anyone, and that all wars are immoral. The Quakers also believe that during any war human suffering should be alleviated, and that means helping the injured and sick on all sides.
"In 1969, I was one of the few people who actually helped bring medical supplies to both the North and South Vietnamese," Elder says. Shortly after the Vietnam War began, the Quakers set up a hospital for war victims in South Vietnam. But it was difficult to deliver medical help to North Vietnam. "In June of 1969 the North Vietnamese invited a Quaker to visit the North. I was chosen to go. I received a request for surgical equipment, and in October I returned with the surgical equipment for a hospital."
In early 1993, Boehm and Elder and others from Madison watched a slide presentation by Carol Wagner of Global Exchange about a study tour that Wagner led to Vietnam in late 1992. Afterward, Wagner told them that her delegation had received a proposal from the Women's Union of My Lai to establish a loan fund for the poor women there, and would they be interested in taking on the responsibility of raising funds for this project.
Boehm, Elder and the other folks attending this presentation agreed to accept this proposal, and it eventually became the first project sponsored by the Madison Quakers.
A year later, as a result of the success of the My Lai Loan Fund, the Vietnamese asked if the Madison Quakers could help them build a Peace Park for My Lai. The Quakers agreed that this project fit in with their beliefs, and they approved the sponsorship of the My Lai Peace Park.
Boehm stresses that the most important lesson he has learned from his efforts to help the disadvantaged people of Vietnam is that he now knows that "one person can make a difference. As an individual, you can make a positive change in the world. The people I meet in Vietnam are so thankful for any help they are given, and it's good to know that we are helping them as brothers and sisters instead of trying to kill them as enemies."
Anyone interested in the Winds of Peace program can write or call: Helping My Lai
Winds of Peace c/o Mike Boehm
2312 E. Jouhnson St., Madison, WI 53704brP> 608-244-9505
www.mylaipeacepark.com
David Swann is a graphic artist with the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. He can be reached at dswann@starbulletin.com
BACK TO TOP |
On Faith
Bill Stonebraker
Pastor confronts question
of why bad things
happen to good peopleHow could God allow such a thing? Why didn't God do something? If God is a God of love, where was He? Have you ever asked these questions out of frustration, anger or hurt?
When life takes a turn for the worse, we tend to dig deep into the human soul and reach high into God's heavens, searching for answers.
Sept. 11 marks one year since our country was disfigured by a horror that will live in infamy. Countless lives have been emotionally and, in some cases, physically scarred by the inhuman acts of a few.
Where was God? As a pastor this is the most difficult question I have to deal with. If only there were a verse covering "why bad things happen to good people," I'd point to it.
But consider three things about God in our time of national mourning. First, the Bible declares, "Surely God is good." The declaration came from Asaph, a man filled with questions. He had lived a good life, but bad things were happening to him. Finally, alone with God, his answer came in the realization that God is good and had not abandoned him. The story is in Psalm 73.
Second, not only is God good, but He is concerned about, and in love with, YOU. Sometimes we feel that God loves people like Mother Teresa, Gandhi or Billy Graham but "is certainly not interested in me." Wrong! He loves you and wants to spend time with you.
We are often reminded of this fact during football games when the camera is pointed at the goal posts during a field goal attempt and someone in the crowd raises a John 3:16 sign. This passage from the Bible tells us that God is dying to get to know us and love us.
Finally, your life can be God's instrument to bring comfort to hurting people. Mike MacIntosh, a speaker at our recent conference, who is a Calvary Chapel pastor and police chaplain, flew to New York City with 1,000 church members for the Festival of Life celebration.
The goal is to be God's hands, touching lives with the love of Jesus Christ, God's feet bringing hope and help to a city still wounded by Sept. 11, and to be God's ears and voice, listening to and praying for the hurts and needs of others.
We can all do the same, remembering that God is good, that He loves YOU and that you can be His agent for healing other lives. God bless America.
The Rev. Bill Stonebraker is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Honolulu.
RELIGION CALENDAR
