The Militarization of Our Youth, I Will NOT Kill and REV Sam Smith

The Militarization of Our Youth,  I Will NOT Kill and REV Sam Smith

 “To become militarized is to adopt militaristic values and priorities as one’s own, to see military solutions as particularly effective, to see the world as a dangerous place BEST APPROACHED with militaristic values.”  (Militarization and Globalization by Cynthia Enloe)   In such a world, creative and peaceful means of conflict resolution will find it harder to compete with military approaches and solutions, and may be silenced altogether. Today…. we live in just such a world.

One primary objective of our government has become to infuse a military mindset into our educational system wherever it is able.  In doing so, our nation is led to believe that as one militarizes the educational system; our students will be enabled to a higher standard of socialization.  Undeniably great social skills such as “loyalty, resilience, courage and teamwork” are promised to be the results of the militarization of our youth.  ROTC and JR ROTC programs are presented as assets for our youth to utilize.  On the walls of our high school counseling departments are posters that push signing up for the military as a “one stop success center” especially for “kids at risk”.  And the No Child Left Behind Act and the ASFAB Tests allow military recruiters unprecedented access to our schools and our school mailing lists.

Thus enters the work of the Fellowship of Reconciliation and its I WILL NOT KILL Campaign as engaged by the FOR Chicago Chapter.  Within this campaign, students who are continually exposed to the glamorization and the sanitization of warfare in the world around them are taught the realities of military engagement.  Pacifistic in nature, the I Will NOT Kill Campaign is designed to question the militarization of our youth.  It is designed to help young people think critically in regards to the military with non-violent approaches presented as the preferable way to problem solving.  Conflict Resolution today has become more commonly equated with military force.  I Will NOT Kill says, “Let’s Give PEACE A Chance FIRST!!”

In Chicago, REV Sam Smith, FOR Chicago Chapter Chair and Chapter Members work closely with DePaul Universities’ Peace Studies Department and offers I Will NOT Kill Tabling as one of the Service Learner components to the PAX 200 classes.  Rev Sam Smith also speaks widely at schools, music festivals, coffeehouses, youth groups, churches etc on the subject of Active Nonviolence as expressed by FOR and I Will NOT Kill.  More information can be found on the FOR USA WEB SITE under the Local Chapter Tab (http://forusa.org/groups/local-chapters/chicago-for).

UPPER XTREME FUNDRAISING UPDATE

JUST A NOTE that We Have Just Recently Added a 

GO FUND ME Page in order to help with FUNDRAISING

for the UPPER XTREME YOUTH WINTER RETREAT.

  

Here is the Link:   http://www.gofundme.com/1q7dy8

PLEASE PASS THE WORD ALONG.  

WE ARE HALF WAY THERE!!!!

UPPER XTREME is an OUTREACH to AT RISK TEENS in the Western Suburbs of Chicago.  Most of the teens that frequent Upper Xtreme Activities feel like they have been rejected by the church in general.  Some even do not call themselves Christians.... and many are Agnostic in their Belief System.  Most are Questioning Society, God and People who call themselves Followers of Christ.  All find Acceptance and Love within the UPPER XTREME fold.

In addition to Sunday Night Bible Study Meetings, we engage in Upper Xtreme Xcursions to Concerts, Car Shows, etc.  One of our most meaningful activities is WINTER RETREAT.  Each year we travel to Cassopolis, MI and attend Camp Friedenswald meetings for WINTER RETREAT.  This is valuable for its TEAM BUILDING and SERVICE LEARNING and GOSPEL ACTIVITIES.

It costs $105 Registration for each teen.... and we would like to be able to bring at least TEN TEENS.  WE NEED YOUR FINANCIAL HELP because these teens cannot pay for themselves.....  and Upper Xtreme is on it's own financially.  No Adults that work with Upper Xtreme are paid.

To Learn More About UPPER XTREME: WWW.UpperXtreme.Com

                           Copyright 2012 By Sam Smith and Heavy Light

Sandy Hook and Our Children

In Light of Yesterday's Tragedy when a Shooter forced his way into the Sandy Hook Elementary School and Killed 20 Children, 6 Adults and Himself.  I would like to offer up a poem by Kahlil Gibran.                           

Sam Smith

On Children  By  Kahlil Gibran

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts, 
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, 
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, 
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, 
and He bends you with His might 
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies, 
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Upper Xtreme Appeal DEC 2012

WE NEED FUNDS TO SEND KIDS TO A JAN 4-6, 2013 WINTER RETREAT

UPPER XTREME FELLOWSHIP is a group of Young Teens and Twenties who together with a group of Adult Mentors are seeking to learn how to do Community better as they seek to Draw Closer to God.  Many in UXF have had Struggles with the Institutional Church which is part of what Draws us Together. We are also Drawn Together by Mutual Interests such as Music.  We are open and Non-Judgemental.... and Welcome those who still Struggle with the Idea of God. 

The UPPER XTREME began as the vision of a concert ministry at the Fourth Street United Methodist Church in Aurora, IL. It was the brain child of Rev Sam Smith and one of the youths in his Youth Group: Jake Fischer. It ran for about six years as a concert ministry from 2001 until 2007. It was later revived for a concert at the Gary United Methodist Church in FEB 2009. Now it is functioning as the Umbrella for a New Progressive Fellowship/Congregation/Church for those, mainly youth, who have been disenfranchised by the church in general. The purpose is to provide open, all embracing, love and fellowship for all. The expressions to be in the form of UX Chats, UX Excursions, UX Concerts,   UX FEEDS,UX Discussions, UX Book Studies etc.

Copyright 2012 By Sam Smith and Heavy Light

WWW.UpperXtreme.Com