Gerry Yokota the online Gathering of AWPS

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Gerry Yokota

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Last weekend I participated in the online Gathering of AWPS, the Asia West Pacific Section of FWCC, the Friends (Quaker) World Committee for Consultation. Here are just a few of the many inspiring highlights.

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First, in his plenary talk, our representative to the UN reminded us of the principle of speaking from the heart. In the light of the Scripture that was the theme of our Gathering, the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10), as I pondered what it means to be a good neighbor, I adapted that phrase to ponder also *acting* from the heart.

Second, the same Friend spoke of being aware of the seeds of war and injustice in our own actions, not just pointing fingers as if we soi-disant pacifists share no responsibility or blame. I was compelled to reflect on my tendency to identify with the Good Samaritan in terms of ideals, when my actual behavior may be closer to the priest and the Levite who crossed to the other side of the road to avoid getting involved. I pray to achieve integrity of ideal and reality, word and deed.

Next, our Incoming Secretary shared his thoughts in his plenary talk about how the legalistic mind tries to divide people into insiders and outsiders. If I do not identify with the nameless traveler who was attacked by robbers, why not? Could it be a sign that I am too comfortable?

This led me back to another Friend's comment on the conflicts over access to vaccines (and, I would add, oxygen). Here I was compelled to also think about the stories I have heard about places where vaccines and oxygen are being hoarded rather than being shared, especially Myanmar. Or even worse, have been hoarded only to be discarded, as I hear is happening in the U.S.

In her concluding comments, our Outgoing Secretary echoed a line from the writings of Rufus Jones that was also quoted in the opening plenary:

"I pin my hopes to quiet processes and small circles in which vital and transforming events take place."

When asked how people here in Japan feel about the missiles launched over Japan by North Korea, I did not feel I could claim to speak for everyone, but I recalled one "vital and transforming event" that happened "quietly" in a "small circle" in Tokyo last year, when Quakers learned that the masks that had been distributed to schools nationwide had not been distributed to the ethnic Korean schools. These Quakers didn't just protest. They took it upon themselves to send a supply directly to the schools.

1919

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