Dear Friends,

As planes flew into buildings in New York and Washington, my family and I were completing our first year here in Guatemala. We had wanted to write you with our reflections about this context, but since September 11 our hearts and minds have been filled with other thoughts. Tamara looks at the images of New York, a city she loved to visit, and asks me if her friends in New Jersey are safe. "Yes, they are safe, but they are very sad," I tell her. Scarleth, Javier’s 15-year-old niece who lives with us, comes home each day from the Presbyterian school she attends, her ears ringing with speculations by classmates and teachers about Revelation and the end of the world. "Is this the beginning of World War III?" she asks me. "I hope not," I tell her. "Let us pray that it is not."

Guatemalans have shared with me their sympathy for the families of the victims, but no one here with whom I’ve talked has expressed surprise over the attacks. Most Guatemalans have no illusions about living in a safe and secure world. Assault, kidnapping, and the more subtle terrors of unsafe drinking water and hunger are part of their daily existence. Those responsible for the murder of thousands during more than 30 years of armed conflict here are still free.

Some Central Americans have expressed to me their hope that now that people in the United States have experienced this massive loss of life through violence within the United States itself, people in the United States will be more able to recognize and sympathize with people who have suffered from violence in other parts of the world. Now that so many families in the States are holding memorial services for their loved ones, yet have no body to bury, perhaps they will recognize the ongoing pain of people in Guatemala, El Salvador, Chile, Argentina and elsewhere whose loved ones were forcibly disappeared by agents of U.S.-supported military dictatorships and never seen again.

Immediately following the attacks flowers rotted in boxes here in Guatemala because grounded planes couldn’t carry them to markets in the States. Meanwhile, children were dying of hunger in eastern Guatemala. People here are asking what does it mean for their country that people in the United States are being urged to buy products made in the United States, when the United States, often through multilateral institutions, has pressured Guatemala to orient its economy toward exports rather than the food needs of the local population. Many Guatemalans worry that their family members in the States will lose their jobs and no longer be able to send the remittances that keep their families out of misery. The quetzal, the Guatemalan currency, which had been stable during our first year here, has started to loose value in relationship to the U.S. dollar.

Someone asked me, "Why do the news media and the U.S. government assume that groups of Arab origin are responsible for the attacks, when there are so many people around the world who have reason to hate the United States?" I concluded that two things are necessary to turn hate into acts of mass murder: material resources and a theology which demonizes the other and justifies the taking of life. A group sees the United States as evil and thus feels justified in carrying mass killings. If we simply label those who attacked the United States "evil,"without trying to understand the sources of their hate, and thereby justify acts of mass destruction, don’t we run the risk of becoming the mirror image of those who attacked us?

Those who plan and carry out mass murder should be stopped and brought to justice, whether those murders occurred in the United States, Chile, or Guatemala. Bombs and missiles cannot bring justice. The killing of more civilians will only generate more hate. War cannot bring an end to terror, for war is simply terror writ large. Central Americans know this very well.

When faced with a theology of death, can we as Christians, in the United States and elsewhere, offer a theology of life, a theology that affirms every human life—every Iraqi child, every Palestinian teenager, every Israeli military conscript, every Afghan woman, every Guatemalan—as precious in God’s sight?

I also find myself turning to the words Paul wrote to the Christians at Rome, to the community of believers who lived in the heart of an empire that was persecuting them: "Hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good…. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer…. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them (Romans 12: 9-14).

Some colleagues have expressed their concern to me that sisters and brothers in the United States, absorbed in their own grief and their government’s plans for war, might be less responsive to the needs of sisters and brothers here. "Will people from the States still come visit us? Will they continue to pray for us?" As I write, Central America is facing one of the worst droughts in recent history. Over 1.5 million people in the region are without sufficient food. Honduras has been the hardest hit, but every country has been affected. If you feel moved to help PC(USA) mission partners in the region respond to the drought, you may earmark contributions for International Disaster Response account #9-2000000 and mail them directly to: Central Receiving Service, Section 300, Louisville, KY 40289.

If you would like more information about how the PC(USA) and our mission partners are responding to the drought in Central America, the attacks in New York and Washington, and the growing humanitarian crisis in and around Afghanistan, please check the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance web site at: www.pcusa.org/pda/ May we continue to work to overcome evil with good.

In the hope of God’s coming reign,

Karla

Rev. Karla Ann Koll, Javier Torrez, and Tamara Torrez-Koll

The 2001 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 241