[Fwd: You can do something!]

[Guest guest]

>Rice for Peace

>

>This amazing idea from the Boulder Mennonite Church:

>

>There is a grassroots campaign underway to protest war in Iraq in a

simple,

>but potentially powerful way.

>

>Place 1/2 cup uncooked rice in a small plastic bag (a snack-size bag or

>sandwich bag work fine). Squeeze out excess air and seal the bag. Wrap it

>in

>a piece of paper on which you have written: " If your enemies are

hungry,

>feed

>them. " Romans 12:20. Please send this rice to the people of Iraq; do

not

>attack them. Do what Jesus would do and God Bless You.

>

>Place the paper and bag of rice in an envelope (either a letter-sized or

>padded mailing envelope--both are the same cost to mail) and address them

>to:

>

>President George Bush

>White House

>1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW

>Washington, DC 20500

>

>Attach $1.06 in postage. (Three 37-cent stamps equal $1.11.)

>

>Drop this in the mail. It is important to act NOW so that President Bush

>gets

>the letters ASAP.

>

>In order for this protest to be effective, there must be hundreds of

>thousands of such rice deliveries to the White House. We can do this

if you

>each forward this message to your friends and family.

>

>There is a positive history of this protest! In the 1950s, Fellowship of

>Reconciliation began a similar protest, which is credited with

influencing

>President Eisenhower against attacking China. Read on:

>

> " In the mid-1950s, the pacifist Fellowship of Reconciliation, learning

of

>famine in the Chinese mainland, launched a 'Feed Thine Enemy' campaign.

>Members and friends mailed thousands of little bags of rice to the White

>House with a tag quoting the Bible, " If thine enemy hunger, feed

him. " As

>far

>as anyone knew for more than ten years, the campaign was an abject

failure.

>The President did not acknowledge receipt of the bags publicly;

certainly,

>no

>rice was ever sent to China.

>

> " What nonviolent activists only learned a decade later was that the

>campaign

>played a significant, perhaps even determining role in preventing nuclear

>war. Twice while the campaign was on, President Eisenhower met with the

>Joint

>Chiefs of Staff to consider U.S. options in the conflict with China over

>two

>islands, Quemoy and Matsu. The generals twice recommended the use of

>nuclear

>weapons. President Eisenhower each time turned to his aide and asked how

>many

>little bags of rice had come in.

>

>When told they numbered in the tens of thousands, Eisenhower told the

>generals that as long as so many Americans were expressing active

interest

>in

>having the U.S. feed the Chinese, he certainly wasn't going to consider

>using nuclear weapons against them. "

>

>Please forward broadly (copy & paste if possible).

>

>I am sending my rice today!