The first peacemaker we are observing during this Lenten season is Tom Fox. Thomas William Fox (1951-2006) was an American Quaker peace activist, affiliated with Christian Peacemaker Teams in Iraq. After a career as a musician in the US Marine Band, Tom became very active in Quaker activities. Within his own Meeting (Langley Hill) and Baltimore Yearly Meeting, he was very active in a variety of youth programs. As wars came post-9/11, Tom got involved with CPT. He often posted writings about his observations and reflections while there, many of which can still be found on-line and still resonate with wisdom about the hard work and sacrifice that peacemaking often entails. In 2005 he was kidnapped in Baghdad along with three other CPT activists. His legacy lives on as an example of pacifist commitment to breaking the cycles of violence.
Take a moment to reflect on these words from one of his blog postings from Iraq:
“We are all finite creatures with a very limited field of vision. But what I do instead of opening my field of vision to include things that I don’t understand or agree with is to make my field of vision even narrower. ‘Out of sight, out of mind’ is an old saying that seems rather apt in this case.”
When you hear things you don’t understand or agree with, which do you do? For today, see if you can make your field of vision even wider.
40 Days with Peacemakers 
To enlarge our vision of how life really is, as Tom Fox suggests, is to give ourselves permission to experience and empathize with the suffering of others and not hide from our emotional distress, anger or fear. It calls us to cultivate compassion for ourselves and others in this experience called humanity. Let that be our “work” during this season of Lent — to expand our awareness with acts of loving kindness, forgiveness and compassion — the ingredients of true inner and outter peace.
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