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 »
Blog
“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 »
“Train Others to Train” by Dan Buttry
The Apostle Paul told Timothy, “The things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others” (2 Timothy 2.2). This mandate to teach people so they can teach yet others–or train people to train others–is a foundational principle for both International… Read more »