Interview with Jeff Mckenzie: Peacewalker and Activist

[Gregory]

Jeff McKenzie is a Peace walker and activist who regularly travels to many parts of the world to "Walk for Peace." Jeff is from the USA originally but currently lives in Austria with his wife Gerti. Jeff is a very interesting person who met his Austrian wife on a peace walk some years ago. Jeff is a human who truly "walks his talk," no pun intended and I the world could use more individuals like him. Jeff is also a father, his son was in Iraq as a U.S. Army medivac pilot, currently he is a pilot in the USCG.

Q. What exactly is a Peace walker and what motivated you to join the Peacewaking movement?



Q. What do you hope to accomplish? Is it ever frustrating?

[Gregory]

Thank you Jeff for taking the time to share your story with us. Your last paragraph sums it up perfectly.

"Believe in the issue you get involved in, educate yourself and then educate others. It is not enough to just be against something. What are you for or what do you want instead of the status quo? The bottom line is - Stand up, speak out, educate, donate, walk, protest, demonstrate, live what you believe and keep going!"

What I personally identify with is the "What are you for" not what are you against, this is a vitally important point for me. There is a difference between being Anti whatever and pro whatever. Mother Theresa said that she would never attend an anti war rally but she would attend a pro peace rally and I believe that there is a profoundly powerful message in what Jeff and Mother Theresa said. I am for peace, for equality for fairness. Thanks Jeff

[Jeffrey A. McKenzie]

April 26th - July 19th
International Peace Walk Towards a Nuclear Free Future
London to Geneva through France

This is an opportunity for all people to come together in a non-violent, spiritually motivated action to end the nuclear industry and reclaim the future.

For more information and all the updates and stories from the road, log
onto: www.footprintsforpeace.net

[Jeffrey A. McKenzie]

The answers to your questions:
Q. What exactly is a Peace walker and what motivated you to join the movement?

Peace walkers are a diverse group of individuals compassionate about peace and related issues. Walkers represent the larger world we are walking for: male and female; young, old and in between; we come from various cultures/ sub cultures and different economic backgrounds/ situations; some see it as an extension of their faith or spiritual path; some of us are educated by books, others are educated by life but a walk is an education in itself; some have been prior military or were part of the system; I could go on but I think you get the picture.

In the late 1980's, I spent time learning about and living with the Mennonites, Hutterites and Amish communities, all of which teach and believe in nonviolence principles. In 2000, I briefly joined my first peace walk. But it was the events on September 11th, 2001 that ended up being the ultimate catalyst for my involvement in peace movement. I was living on campus at the time, in a dorm that housed foreign exchange students, ROTC cadets and older students, so I experienced the polarising effect of that day. Coming out on the side of peace in the U.S. back then was highly unpopular, many that wanted to support peace were to afraid to speak out. Instead fear and the desire for revenge was dominate. To be honest, at the time my son was in the military, as was his wife, along with several of my cadets from back when I was Deputy Commander of Cadets at Civil Air Patrol. But I realized far more innocent people would be in harms way if and when the U.S. would launch an attack. It is always the innocent that suffer the most in war time. Let's be honest Bin Laden and Omar are still free, plus the world is less safe today.

I spent a lot of time protesting in DC, NYC and elsewhere. In 2002, I left college to participate in a 9 week peace walk from Los Alamos, New Mexico to the Nevada Test Site in Nevada. In the Fall of 2002, I was one of the co-founders of Military Families Speak Out, http://www.mfso.org/ .

In 2003, I participated in another peace walk in Australia and have participated in other walks since in different places around the world.

Peace walks tend to be very small in size compared to a protests or demonstrations. I believe there are several reasons for that: the time involved is a big one, most people can not take weeks or months off from work or can not afford too; physically it is much more demanding; frankly it is harder - you sleep wherever you can, food and water might not be what people are accustomed to; and many people have other responsibilities - children, pets, etc.

What I do like is peace walks go to the people, we communicate with each other and educate one another. We get coverage in local media and hopefully get locals to get involved on a grassroots or larger level.

Q. What do you hope to accomplish? Is it ever frustrating?

I would love to see world peace, the end of the nuclear cycle, equality and acceptance for all, a world without pollution, etc.

But what I personally hope to accomplish is: to walk everyday for peace, to plant seeds by communicating with and educating others, while being educated further myself. Those goals I can accomplish, the larger goals depend on all of us and the kind of world we want to live in.

Frustration and disappointment are a part of everyday life - traffic jams, relationship problems, a flunking grade on a test, a bad day at work, etc.. So can a walk be frustrating, yes, but no more than normal life really. We have to contend with all types of weather - often with inadequate gear; we develop family conflicts - after all we are a bunch of individuals coming from diverse backgrounds living close together for days, weeks or months at a time; our support vehicle has mechanical problems and often times money is tight.

I am sure what you meant is, are we frustrated by the fact that the issue we are walking for doesn't seem to change. We sometimes have victories and who really knows what effect we have behind the scenes or how what we do today will change the future. I would remind all activists not to become discouraged but to just keep moving along one step at a time. Set goals that you personally can accomplish and realize the rest is up to everyone as a whole. Patience and perseverance are definitely a necessary part of activism.

Believe in the issue you get involved in, educate yourself and then educate others. It is not enough to just be against something. What are you for or what do you want instead of the status quo? The bottom line is - Stand up, speak out, educate, donate, walk, protest, demonstrate, live what you believe and keep going!