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‘Readings in Nonviolence’ features extracts from our favourite books, pamphlets, articles or other material on nonviolence and related areas, or reviews of important works in the field (suggestions and contributions welcome)
The Welsh tradition of nonviolence is alive and well with a prime and lively source there being Cymdeithas y Cymod (Fellowship of Reconciliation in Wales) www.cymdeithasycymod.org.uk which works in the Welsh language internally.
This year the peace and goodwill message of the youth of Wales to the world has been prepared by Cymdeithas y Cymod to remember the start of the First World War and we are delighted to print this short meditation on war, in its English version, from ‘our neighbours’:
Message of Peace and Goodwill from the young people of Wales to young people around the world
What is the sound of a general’s whistle I wonder?
And how does the squeak of a rat sound?
What smell hath a bullet I wonder?
And bodies in a ditch? And what of gas?
I wonder how a hand quivers before pulling the trigger?
How does it feel to release the bomb?
And to hear it whistling above one’s head?
What are the fears in the hearts of a soldier’s parents I wonder?
How does sorrow taste after losing a friend?
How can the loss be measured?
16 million? The 1st World War. .
50 million? The 2nd World War.
The 3rd? I wonder?
What would life be like without war I wonder?
And what is the taste of peace I wonder?
How does it sound? How does it smell?
When will people see through the lies and when will cruelty end I wonder?
And who will bring reconciliation to our world?
Will it be you I wonder?
Or me?
I wonder?
- The young people of Wales believe that the people of the world can solve their problems without violence, and in 2014 this message asks world leaders to reconcile with each other and to follow the paths of peace.
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