WITH EACH STEP - EACH HEARTBEAT

The Walk for a Nuclear Free Future and Conversion to a Peaceful Economy enters Maine early Wednesday morning in the town of Bethel at the New Hampshire border. Seven of us from Maine will join the walk at that time. We'll spend our first night at a church in Norway, Maine and then move on to Lewiston, Bath, Brunswick, Freeport, Portland, Saco, and Kennebunk. Each night at 6:00 pm a pot luck supper and program will be held to honor the walk and hear about its purpose.

Many others plan to join the walk as it passes through their community. In all the walk will be a wonderful experience for lots of Mainers.

I plan to do the whole walk through Maine so I will have limited access to my computer - basically no access except for the two nights we are in the Bath-Brunswick area and I will be sleeping in my own bed. So the posts here will be few and far between. I am looking at the walk as a bit of a vacation - I haven't had a real vacation in years. I hope my aging knees hold up.

This morning we got the call that a close friend passed away from cancer last night. Dennis Stanton, married to MB's best childhood friend, was a dear man who we loved to argue politics with when ever we visited with them. On our most recent visit, knowing he had terminal cancer, he told us that he had come to the conclusion that both political parties were corrupt and under the control of corporations. This was a big deal for him as prior to that he had usually vigorously defended the Democrats. I think Dennis began to think of his two children and the future they face. So as I walk each step during these coming days I want to carry Dennis in my heart. We will miss him very much.

During the walk I will also be carrying in my heart the images of the children in Iraq who are suffering from the exposure to depleted uranium. I will carry with me the cries of all those who are dieing and being wounded in these unnecessary wars my government is waging. I will be thinking of how all those wasted dollars could be used here at home and around the world to relieve the suffering from needless poverty and environmental degradation.

I will hope that those in the public who see us pass by might open their hearts just a tiny bit and think more about the waste that growing militarism is in our world today. I will hope that people can find the courage to speak out so that their own children might have a better future.

See you along the road my friends. Please wish us well.