Eliminating Nuclear Weapons
I recently participated in an international (Zoom) RC class on eliminating nuclear weapons. It was led by Julian Weissglass, the International Commonality Reference Person for Wide World Change. We met monthly for three months and were able to face a terrifying topic, get clearer thinking, and decide to take action. The classes were a big contradiction to my feelings of hopelessness about ever being able to change the situation.
I first hesitated to join the class. I was worried that it would bring up too many difficult feelings. However, it was actually good to face the issue head-on [directly]—I feel those feelings and fears all the time anyway. I could work directly on my most “unbearable” early material [distress] with these Co-Counselors from around the world. We are committed to building relationships that will allow us to act to end nuclear weapons, and war.
I called a topic group on eliminating nuclear weapons at my Regional Eliminating White Racism Workshop in New York City, USA. I thought that U.S. and white patterns would prevent most people from wanting to attend, and, sure enough [as expected], nobody raised their hand for the group. But later two people asked me to lead the group, and four of us met.
We started with a lot of joking around, which got people more relaxed and connected. I talked about U.S. and white patterns of looking the other way and preferring comfort to facing what’s going on [happening] in the world or acknowledging our fears or other feelings about it. I described how looking at nuclear war is similar to looking at racism, and how it is connected with racism and oppression. I mentioned the recent U.S. and Russian withdrawal from the 1987 nuclear arms control treaty. I encouraged people to work in their sessions on their earliest memories of hearing about nuclear war.
I also shared my experience of feeling like I could not bear to think about nuclear weapons and how the Zoom class had provided the contradiction [to distress] of all of us being in it together, which had made it possible to access my early terror.
I have two monthly three-way sessions on healing from war. We include discharging on nuclear war and our early memories of learning about it. We agree that this is a new window into working on healing from war.
I am committed to learning more about nuclear weapons. I am getting updates from an anti-nuclear-war organization and am reading two books. I’m becoming more informed and less numb.
New York City, New York, USA
Reprinted from the RC e-mail discussion
list for leaders of wide world change