BeFriending Creation
Marshall Massey called to complete interrupted
pilgrimage to Baltimore Yearly Meeting sessions
In early June 2006, Marshall Massey, a Friend from Omaha, Neb., had to take a break from his planned 80-day pilgrimage from Omaha to Harrisonburg, Va., due to physical ailments that worsened over the first 2½ weeks of his scheduled 1,150-mile journey.
Despite great suffering, he got as far as central Illinois! Way to go!
After a period of recuperation at home for badly swollen ankles and elevated blood pressure, Marshall hopes to continue on a modified intinerary that may include some use of motorized transportation as the need arises, he wrote recently in his on-line computer journal at <http://journal.earthwitness.org/>.
Known for writings and talks that aroused Quakers' interest in ecological issues in the 1980s, Marshall felt the call to undertake this walk after being invited to be the keynote speaker at Baltimore Yearly Meeting on the topic of living in harmony with all God's creation. He interpreted BYM's invitation as a request to help them discern what they are called to do as Friends about deteriorating ecological conditions globally.
Marshall decided that this challenge called for deep discernment on his own part, which he believed could be done best under the conditions encountered on a very long walk—with ample time for prayer and reflection and in a state of vulnerabiity that would keep him attuned to divine love and power. He also saw the trip as an opportunity to engage Friends and others along the way in meaningful conversations about environmental issues. He expected that this would involve more listening than talking on his part.
Marshall raised several thousand dollars, including $1,000 from QEW, to help with travel expenses and to cover some of the household income he would lose while on leave from his job. He also contacted Friends, Friends Meetings, and other kindred spirits to arrange hospitality and speaking opportunities along the route.
Sometimes he was a guest in people's homes. Other times he had to hustle as night fell to find a spot where he would be allowed to pitch his tent.
To regularly update his on-line journal he apparently carried along a small notebook computer that was set up for wireless Internet connection.
His almost-daily entries include reflections on various environnmental issues that he observed along the way—from the pitiful sight of countless road-killed animals to seriously eroded farmland in the Midwest.
He summarized discussions with local residents about the things that are undermining the health of the land, from tax-subsidized ethanol fuel programs that aren't as renewable as portrayed to absentee owners who invest in farmland only for short-term profit. Generally absent from most people's consciousness was the kind of "land ethic" that Aldo Leopold was writing about more than 50 years ago, Marshall noted.
Marshall was able to schedule meetings with a majority of the Friends Meetings/churches along his route that he had contacted. As a member of a "conservative" Yearly Meeting, he felt he was well-positioned to engage Friends who were oriented to different parts of the theological spectrum.
He was always welcomed warmly in the characteristic way that Midwesterners extend themselves to strangers. But he met many conservative Friends who were quite cool toward a number of environmental views and positions they associated with "liberal" Friends groups.
He heard general support for such practical measures as land and water conservation and recycling programs, but few of his contacts viewed global warming, species extinction, genetic engineering and other issues as serious problems. Marshall sometimes detected as well a degree of disdain for "environmentalists" in general, who were portrayed as indifferent to the problems of average working people and the poor.
When Marshall resumes his walk, we look forward to more journal reflections on how Quakers might be able to come to unity on this vital concern. •
