‘Peace House Community Journal’ Archives
Greece’s Golden Age: Passion and/or Wisdom?
from the series Peace House Community Journal... By MARTI MALTBY Marti Maltby Many years ago, I heard a debate about whether Greece’s Golden Age was represented by the great poets such as Homer, or by the philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Why should this matter to us now, thousands of years later? Because it might give us some insight into today’s situation.Homer gave us epic tales involving a vibrant world of violent passions, both positive and negative. Wars were fought over trivial matters. Gods and men competed for glory. Each individual had unique powers and personalities. By contrast, the philosophers sat around and discussed. Plato’s Republic, one of the classics of philosophy, contains no action other than people making speeches. Their goal is to discover reality (or however Plato phrased it; I haven’t read him in over 30 years). They focused on universal truths that applied equally to everyone, not individual people. In our modern [...]
Peaceful, but not Passive
from the series Peace House Community Journal... By MARTI MALTBY Marti Maltby I disagree with Mayor Jacob Frey on many topics, but I agreed with what he said during his press conference following the shooting of Renee Good. There’s so much to say about the current situation, but the part I want to focus on is Frey’s call for a peaceful response. We can debate if that’s the most important thing to worry about, but it’s uppermost in my mind as I write this. Frey was right that we need a peaceful response. But peaceful doesn’t mean passive. We don’t need to accept how our neighbors are being terrorized, but we don’t need to resort to terror in our response either. And, thankfully, Minneapolis seems perfectly willing to be peaceful without being passive. Tens, maybe hundreds of thousands, of Twin Cities residents have protested peacefully since the shooting, but they haven’t been passive. They’ve done all they can to protect neighbors and hold the federal [...]
We Need Spirituality
Marti Maltby from the series Peace House Community Journal... By MARTI MALTBY “Community is a form of spirituality.” Dr. Kelly Sherman-Conroy, Oglala (Sioux) Lakota, Associate Pastor at All Nations Indian Church When Kelly made that comment, I grabbed my pen to make sure I didn’t forget her words. I wasn’t the only one. Kelly was opening a meeting of the Metro Urban Indian Directors subcommittee on homelessness and the opioid crisis in the Native American community. In keeping with Native culture, a respected member of the community was invited to open the meeting “in a good way,” meaning that they share words that focus our attention and edify the discussion. As I’ve learned over the seven years I have been attending the meetings, the Native American community is far more tight knit than my own culture. Those on the streets are referred to (and treated) as relatives, regardless of tribal affiliation. While my culture defaults to individual rights [...]
