I say NO to war. In every way I can, wherever I am. This ground of dissent is so deeply embedded within my Being that were I to do otherwise it would eat away at my very sense of self. Perhaps it is part of the DNA I received from my father, who worked in high level positions within the U.S. government, positions where decisions to make war, drop bombs, create global havoc were made during the 1940s and into the early 1970s. His focus was the world and so is mine. He's dead now but I sometimes wonder if my strong commitment to peace is his legacy to me; maybe he wants one of his daughters to pay back what he was part of taking away. I do know I got his bull-headed determination and it has served me well in this ongoing work for global peace.

The photograph was taken of me in solitary protest in front of the White House on September 5, 2002. This has become a tradition with me when I visit my mother in Washington, DC during times that require active dissent. Certainly the Bush administration's determination to totally destroy Iraq and its people counts as such a time. My first such demonstration came in relation to Iraq as well. In March 1991 I went directly from National Airport to the White House with my hand-drawn poster in a plastic bag. It was from a series of pen-and-ink drawings I'd created during the massacre they called the Gulf War. The image was of a child crying on his mother's shoulder as she and other women fled across the desert. The quote was from the Old Testament: "Listen, the cry of the daughter of my people sounds throughout the land." The Secret Service took my name and address and told me I'd have to keep walking if I wanted to demonstrate in front of the White House. And so I did. And so I do.
 
 

I say YES to women…wonderful, loving, supportive, celebrating women. My sisters with whom I circle and sing. My sisters who crowned me with beauty on my 60th birthday. My sisters who stand at my side in the hard times, out on cold streets saying no to war, fighting to sustain the earth, our home. What would I do and who would I be without their strength, passion, sense of play, commitment, vision and creative fire? I cannot imagine. I would certainly not be able to stand strong in my dissent if I did not know they were at my side, our hearts beating as one. Women are the breath of my being and the wings on which I soar. Gratitude is the assent I make to the women in my life.
 

©2002 Patricia Lay-Dorsey. Please use with attribution.