Another person I'm not

Tom Fox, Baghdad volunteer with a group called Christian Peacemaker Teams, whose in the news because he's been kidnapped by a previously unknown insurgent "group". Salon story, and Tom's blog. About the possibility of being kidnapped (not a rare occurence given the thousands currently held, mostly Iraqis as CPT emphasizes), he wrote:

CPT will attempt to communicate with the hostage takers or their sponsors, and work against journalists' inclinations to vilify and demonize the offenders. We will try to understand the motives for these actions and to articulate them while maintaining a firm stance that such actions are wrong ... We reject the use of violent force to save our lives, should we be kidnapped, held hostage, or caught in the middle of a violent conflict situation. We also reject violence to punish anyone who harms us ... We forgive those who consider us their enemies, therefore any penalty should be in the spirit of restorative justice rather than violent retribution.

We are connected by more than accident of pseudonym. He's a Quaker, the religion I grew up with. I rejected it as a teenager, largely because I could not come to terms with absolute pacifism. Still, I admire it. Certainly, if everyone felt and acted that way, the world would be a better place. And even given the world the way it is, I think he's doing a better job of living by his values than I am mine. I can only hope for the best for him.