PEACE TO SOME

Gavel Gamut

By Jim Redwine

PEACE TO SOME

My Sunday School teacher, Violet Willis, was born on the Osage Indian Nation at Pawhuska, Oklahoma in 1912. Violet was an Osage and a college graduate. She was an advisor and friend to my sister, my two brothers and me. She died after gaining almost one hundred years of wisdom, goodwill and good works.

Violet had a fine sense of humor. She would occasionally point out that the federal government had little knowledge of Indian culture and history. I remember when Violet took me to a summer church camp on the Pawnee reservation which the white government had placed adjacent to the Osage reservation. While I never heard Violet curse, she did tell me when we crossed into Pawnee County, “The Pawnee were traditional enemies of the Osage. My father would say ‘Pawnee no pashee’”. Violet said this had two meanings: “Pawnee not a friend or Pawnee horse’s rear”.

Because I am writing this on Christmas Day and am warmed by memories of Christmases past, my thoughts included Violet and her fine command of the English language, the Bible and the ironies to be found in human nature.

As one of Violet’s students on Sunday mornings during the Cuban Revolution (1953 – 1959), I remember her cautioning us that Castro may not be all good and Batista may not be all bad. Then, in my senior year of high school (1961) Violet reminded us that the Bay of Pigs Invasion might not be what our government portrayed it as.

What I learned from Violet was that each side paints its own canvas in matters of war, religion and “good will”. In fact, Violet taught that the Christmas Story as found in the Book of Luke could be understood from several viewpoints.

For example, my other religion teachers had always said, “Peace on earth, good will to men”. But Violet said various scholars and pundits said:

“Peace on earth among men in whom he is pleased”; or “Peace on earth to people who enjoy his (God’s) favor.”

There are about twenty versions of this Blessings of Peace thing. Several indicate that only favored people can expect their god’s blessing of peace.

Violet used this tortuous phrasing to help us see the world from angles other than our own. For example, she would point out the silliness of believing anyone had all the answers to anything.

According to Violet, Muslims, Jews and Christians are all “People of the Book”. That is, each faith takes its root from Abraham who was probably born in Ur, modern day Iraq. And each faith worships at least one of the same gods, albeit Christians believe Jesus was both man and god. Jews and Muslims do not believe that but Muslims honor Jesus as a prophet just below Mohammad.

But what many members of these three groups, and many other people for that matter, might have learned from Violet Willis is that peace and goodwill should not be confined to or towards particular groups.