To stand up for peace and against war and for disarmament is very courageous here in America.

I witnessed a lot of violence, and I found myself asking the question: Do you ever use violence to try to bring about political change?

It's not for me to say from the outside what the Palestinian people should have. That would be very arrogant.

We frail humans are at one time capable of the greatest good and, at the same time, capable of the greatest evil. Change will only come about when each of us takes up the daily struggle ourselves to be more forgiving, compassionate, loving, and above all joyful in the knowledge that, by some miracle of grace, we can change as those around us can change too.

President Obama continues to support war. He continues to remove many basic civil liberties and human rights. He continues to condone drones in Pakistan and Afghanistan that kill women and children. He meets with his advisers every Tuesday morning and signs extrajudicial killings. To me, those are not the actions of a peace person.

We can rejoice and celebrate today because we are living in a miraculous time. Everything is changing and everything is possible.

I have always been inspired by the American peace movement because it is operating in a very hard and militarist environment.