notes from behind the walls
Listening to Precious Life

by Sachio Ko-Yin

While surreptitiously leafleting at the prison camp, I came across a small thought on the preciousness of soldiers.

Sachi during trial photo: Donna Howard-Hastings

Passing out information on first-strike weapons, I came into a mean confrontation with a WWII veteran. My tactic of course was to de-escalate the conversation and really listen to his objections (the atomic bomb saved millions of lives). But I caught myself being a clever propagandist, rather than honoring his life the way I must have seemed to be. In spite of this, the tension dropped, and we had an honest, open discussion, and I think at the end, he expressed admiration for peace activists. He said, "You seem like an honest kid. I gotta hand it to you for standing up for your beliefs."

But the irony is, I was not as I appeared. I must have had that look of deep listening, when in fact, I was listing the weak points in his arguments, preparing for an intelligent counter.

I suspect nonviolent tactics don't have to be pure to be effective; we can refrain from physical violence, but in our hearts, dishonor our opponents. It is a kind of practical imitation of a pure compassion. But maybe the tactics of nonviolence are not themselves nonviolence, but can tug us, for moments, into its source, compassion. When I caught myself, the scheming propagandist, with the Zen-Buddhist face, I tried to quiet myself, even beyond the shame I was then feeling. I tried to forget my point of view, forget about nonviolence, and just hear the humanity in his speech, the suffering he experienced in war. For a moment, I didn't have a Zen-Buddhist face or strategies in my head. All I had was a precious life before me, who was changed by war.

-Oliver Sachio Ko-Yin Coe
28361-013 Unit A-D
FPC Allenwood
POB 1000
Montgomery PA 17752-9718

Minuteman III co-actor:
Daniel Sicken 28360-013
Unit 1, POB 2000
Lewisburg PA 17837-2000

To send Daniel some "stamp" money, please send to: Carol Bellucci, 773 W Windham Rd, Windham VT 05359-9503 (Daniel and Sachi must control how much they have in their commissary accounts or it may be stolen by the criminally insane nuclear state.

Sachio is suggesting to all prisoners of conscience that they exchange notes, even letters in these pages. Long Sentences, Nonviolent Incites would be honored to be that forum. For starters, Sachi wrote "I loved Dan's poem!"