When Way Opens

By Kathy Zager on 08/06/2011 @ 10:49 AM

Tags: Quakerism

When I was asked to represent FCNL at Baltimore Yearly Meeting, I was overcome with nervous excitement. I love traveling! This would be my very first work trip, a rite of passage which hadn’t even occurred to me. Now that the trip is over and I am finally an adult, it is time to reflect on what I experienced.

I was there to participate in annual sessions—to pray and commune with BYM Friends. I was also there to co-lead a workshop on lobbying, and to let young people know about our Spring Lobby Weekend in 2012. Perhaps most importantly for me, I was there to listen—to know the experience of BYM Friends, so that upon returning to FCNL, I could better know who was on the other end of my phone calls and emails (I am working in Campaigns this summer, which means I interact a lot with our constituents). To that end, here is what I’ve taken away from my time at BYM:

Friends are frustrated. The economic crisis has hurt individuals, monthly meetings, and yearly meetings alike. Watching BYM Friends work to balance their budget, I saw people forced to choose one beloved project over another beloved project. I met Friends who have been hurt by layoffs and extended periods of unemployment. There was little public mention of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq—frustration with failed promises and slow withdrawals seems to have turned Friends’ activism closer to home. I heard news of a promising grassroots campaign focused on Friends growing food with their own hands and ensuring that it reaches the mouths of the hungry.

In our lobbying workshop, I heard that frustration again. Friends want defense spending cuts just as badly as we at FCNL do, but they have little optimism that the defense cuts wrapped into the larger budget proposal will emerge with any substance.

I have empathy for Friends with this kind of frustration. The U.N. began imposing sanctions on Iraq when the youngest of us at FCNL were one and two years old. The War in Afghanistan is now the longest in U.S. history, and has continued for nearly half my life. A second recession is looming. I am frustrated. I am often skeptical that I’ll ever get to live in a country not at war.

Thankfully, Friends at Baltimore Yearly Meeting also reminded me why there is hope. One woman attending our workshop was interested in alternatives to face-to-face lobbying; her congressman was so closed to Friends’ concerns that they have moved to practicing civil disobedience in his office rather than lobbying. Despite this, she wanted to learn how to most usefully effect change (perhaps from a distance). Friends may be frustrated, but that is because they expect a lot. When one way closes, the patient and deliberate will find another. Frustration with feeling unheard is what propels us to find successful outlets.