POSTSCRIPT, MARCH 19-31, 2003

Michael A. King

This issue of DreamSeeker Magazine Magazine was in preparation under the shadow of war. As has been true of so much in recent months, it was never clear when another before and after, all too reminiscent of the before/after created by 9-11, would emerge. Finally on March 19, 2003, as DSM went to the proofreader, the United States of America, fatefully implementing the policy of preemptive war Wendell Berry opposes in the lead article (pp. 5-17), went to war against Iraq.

There is no way to know as of this writing, begun March 19 and completed March 31, what is to come, as some still expect the liberators of Iraq to be greeted with joy and others suspect that the violators of innocent Iraqi civilians have plunged the world into a nightmare that will be unfolding for the rest of many of our lives. Or perhaps there will be an odd and ungainly mix, as both hope and horror streak out of Iraq and around the globe.

Let there be no forecasting here; there is too much already of being too sure of our truths. Let it simply be noted that this is a large historical moment, marking the beginning of a time in which hearts and bodies will break. Meanwhile we wait to learn what the new “normal” will look like, who will die and who will kill to bring it about, and whether the way of peace or the “myth of redemptive violence” (as Walter Wink puts it) will characterize it. —Michael A. King