To watch this 1-hour interview, click HERE.
To read a more thorough summary than the brief summary shown below (and sources of more information), click Program Description — July 2014 for .pdf
The Olympia Fellowship of Reconciliation’s July 2014 TV program features a warm and frank conversation with Larry Kerschner, a Vietnam veteran who started working for peace and social justice a few years after returning – and has been accomplishing more and more ever since.
Drawing upon his religious roots and his experiences in the army, Larry has developed himself into a wise, compassionate, and courageous peace activist who “connects the dots” between spiritual grounding and how to live actively and nonviolently in a world that is far different from what we want. Larry expresses his experiences, his values, and his analysis not only through peace activism in our local region, but also through traveling to other countries and through writing poetry.
Larry recently retired from a career as a health care professional in Lewis County. He grew up in Seattle, was drafted and sent to Vietnam, where he served in the US army’s infantry. He shares a powerful experience that happened soon after arriving in Vietnam. He wrote a poem about that, titled “Answering a Question.” It appears on page 5 of his 2013 book of poetry, Grave Lines, which people can buy from Larry at peacepoet@gmail.com. During our interview, Larry reads some of his highly relevant and moving poetry.
During our TV interview, Larry tells about the few years after returning from Vietnam and some steps that later connected him with the peace movement, including the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR) and Veterans for Peace (VfP). The end of this article offers ways to contact these and other organizations.
