May we as Quakers, on this day strengthen our resolve “to carry into action something which is deeply rooted in the minds of many: sympathy with others; the desire to help others…without regard to nationality or race; feelings which, when carried into deeds, must provide the foundations of a lasting peace.” Gunnar Jahn, 1947. Spoken on behalf of the Nobel Committee awarding the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) and British Friends Service Council —the Nobel Peace Prize—on behalf of Quakers worldwide.
Accepting the Prize, the chairman for the AFSC Henry Cadbury said “You [the Nobel Prize Committee] are saying … here today that common folk—not statesmen, nor generals nor great men of affairs, just simple plain men and women like the few thousand Quakers and their friends—if they devote themselves to resolute insistence on Goodwill in place of force…can do something to build a better, peaceful world.”
We must all double down on such work.