My NP Volunteer Story
(Published Feb. 11, 2015) "In the fall of 2002, a friend invited me to a week-long demonstration in Edina, Minnesota, at the international headquarters of an arms and munitions maker. This was the second one, 33 years after the first. I probably would not have gone to the demonstration but for what he had shared about the impact of these munitions on our own troops and countless thousands of civilians. After working for 30 years with veterans who struggled with the physical and emotional scarring from what they had lived through in past wars, I do not want to see more vets deal with yet another type of pain.
Not only was the demonstration meaningful, but the people I met have had an amazing impact on my life. One couple, Mary Lou and Gene Ott, told me about their involvement in Nonviolent Peaceforce. After the first few months of weekly demonstrations, I made the decision to spend at least as much time working for something as I spend demonstrating against something. Since the spring of 2003, I have committed between four and eight hours a week to volunteer work for the Nonviolent Peaceforce.
I honestly believe that each small task I complete contributes to an effort that resolves conflicts without using violence. In the long run, I believe this approach will result in a more sane, peaceful world for my kids, my grand kids and generations to come."
Tom Sullivan
NP Volunteer since 2003
"Revolutionary change does not come as one cataclysmic moment, but as an endless succession of surprises, moving zigzag toward a more decent society. We don't have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world."
Howard Zinn