In many conflicts the larger “players” in a conflict get locked into the cycles of recrimination, retaliation, and violence. Smaller groups at the margins may just try to keep their heads down and try to survive. As the old African proverb says, “When the elephants fight the grass suffers.” So the grassroots margins just hope… Read more »
Blog
“Memory and a Museum” by Dan Buttry
In our trauma healing work a key concern is the narrative we construct to tell the story of what happened. That memory can lead to a twisted us versus them story, a story of good versus evil that then dehumanizes the other and justifies the next cycle of violence. Or the memory can be more… Read more »
“Clowns for Peace” by Dan Buttry
There has been a lot in the news in the U.S. lately about people dressed up as clowns and engaging in threatening, annoying, and sometimes criminal behavior. In my own city someone was going around in a clown outfit brandishing a large knife, while in nearby suburbs some clowns have committed armed robberies. Clowns are… Read more »
“Walls Past and Present” by Dan Buttry
I was just in Budapest and saw a powerful memorial to both the 1956 Revolution in Hungary which was put down by Soviet troops and about the “Iron Curtain”. The Iron Curtain was a phrase coined by Winston Churchill about the powerfully defended border between Eastern and Western Europe that included the infamous Berlin Wall…. Read more »
“Terror, Murder, Martyrs, and Paradise” by Dan Buttry
I’ve been thinking of the 84-year old French priest murdered as he led a mass. He’s a true martyr, simply killed for his faith. Some of those who commit suicide or are killed as they murder others in the name of religion claim the title “martyr,” but they are anything but. Their true title is… Read more »