As we struggle with feelings of anger and despair over the deadly abuse of power in Louisiana and Minnesota, and the retaliatory gun violence in Texas may we reaffirm Martin Luther King Jr.’s belief spoken in Oslo in 1964 upon his acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize: “I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.”

 May we support those committed to translating this belief into action and may our own behavior be guided by the understanding that “nonviolence is not sterile passivity but a powerful moral force which makes for social transformation…[and that we] must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation.” 

                                                                                      JDG