XXIV 22nd May 2003
The winter building programme diversifies the skills of a farmer and brings him satisfaction of seeing improvements or additions to his quarters and his kraal. We completed now having started the foundations in winter a new large building. Much of the work, especially the foundations and all finishing was done by our own farm team with impressive and satisfying skill. It consists of a new barn which was necessary for housing additional equipment, with a flat cum office adjacent and a 100m2 meeting area in a semi-basement below. It works well with other buildings, creating another yard with a new entrance gate and a fenced storage area beyond. It is known as the institute and was named later the European Institute, in anticipation of joining the European Union. By the end of this period we were laying finest timber floors in the new institute, bringing it to habitable condition. The barn and flat are being used now, and the large open area below offers potential for meetings or social activities.
After last major repair which was needed to the small Bogumiła tractor, we were back in the fields in March fertilizing winter crops and laying nitrogen food under the roots for the sowing of barley. Unfortunately the late spring flooding of Matthewʼs pond destroyed some of the barley; this is nothing by comparison with what one reads happened to farmers in Germany and in areas of Oder River, but it was a disappointment to us, who thought that we fully restored our biggest field: more work will have to be done to build up the banks. Difficulties not comparable with disasters elsewhere, but much in our mind.
I wrote a letter to His Holiness appealing for his intervention and on 22nd February received his reply with a personal blessing which moved me deeply*:
| SECRETARIAT OF STATE | |
| N. 530.850 | From the Vatican, 19 February 2003 |
Dear Mr Wallis,
The Holy Father wishes me to thank you for the message of greetings and good wishes which you sent to him for Christmas and the New Year. He prays that the heavenly message of reconciliation and peace proclaimed in Bethlehem will inspire in all the members of the human family an enduring commitment to ending every form of violence, injustice and oppression,
His Holiness invokes an abundance of divine blessings upon you throughout the coming year,
Yours sincerely,
Monsignor Gabriele Caccia Assessor
The above was in reply to mine, as follows:
| Jan Paweł II | 30.12.02 |
| Vatican | |
Drogi Ojcze
I left Poland as a boy at the beginning of the war and lived my working life in England. I have shared the joy of your consecration with my family, here and in Poland. Like many others I believe that you were instrumental in stopping the excesses of Socialism in the Soviet Union and I believe that now you will stop the excesses of Capitalism in the United States and bring peace to the world. Human awareness of own condition, both physical and spiritual is available worldwide and man can solve with joy the problems which seemed insurmountable before. He can for the first time build a future for humanity in a world of plenty. The old sins of hate and greed have no longer a foundation in the realities of our world, even if they are still being used to confuse this vision. They can be destroyed by you with words to which all are ready to listen.
We know you are against the war and I believe your declaration of an Unjust War with Baghdad, would make every Catholic man, woman and child consider their conscience before they contributed to the fateful deed. The Church was attacked for keeping silent last time and will be attacked even more for speaking now but its unfailing wisdom will be recognized by the faithful and by everyone else and would open an unstoppable flood of goodness overtaking us all. To push the evil first to the left and then to the right, opening an avenue of hope to mankind is the greatest mission for Peter. I cherish your words ʻhave no fearʼ as a Pole and as a European and I share your thoughts of the ʻCrossing the threshold of Hopeʼ as an old man.
Słowa oddania i przyjazni MATTHEW WALLIS
Millions of ordinary citizens marched on 16th of February, through-out the world, inspired by a sense of outrage against the oncoming American invasion; I marched in Paris to the Bastille, and my family along the embankments in London. All to no avail: the vicious deed was done. Invasion of Iraq illegal by the United Nations standards is an international crime, committed against a defenceless country; it is like Nazi attack against Poland in 1939, which started the Second World War; and will be followed by others, like the last one was. Bushʼs dead face, not a muscle of feeling showing, announcing the invasion, without a declaration of war, with a lying pretext and false allegations latched onto a brazen contempt for the world opinion; was followed with the display of self-satisfied Houstonid faces, congratulating themselves. Without knowing the people, they can conquer them and oppress them but they cannot set them free. They introduce murder, robbery and Quisling regimes; bringing back memories of the last blood-bath. The fighting Iraqis must feel, like we felt in England in 1940, fighting on our own against all the odds.
The politics of war in Iraq presented an enigma for many nations who believed in a possibility of avoiding it, by carrying out independent investigation and destruction by the United Nations of the concealed weapons, alleged to exist in the country. It appeared that cooperation could be obtained from Iraq, while it was alleged, with the high authority of American administration, that the weapons were being concealed, presenting a dire threat to America and other countries, in particular to the neighbours of Iraq. If it were possible to obtain this cooperation, then the damage of a war would be avoided and the safety assured. It was with that in mind, that a number of countries, amongst which France was the leader, offered to help and to bargain for time to avoid a conflict. The truth was muddied by Mr Blix, a Swedish expert, who used words in such a way that his opinion could be read as objective while false at the same time, and blixing will enter the dictionary with that meaning. In the end compromise was not accepted by the United States and on the 20th of March they invaded Iraq with 250,000 troops supported by 40,000 British and some smaller contingents of Polish and Australian forces.
The conflict started with difficulties for the invaders, who underestimated, the strength of patriotic feeling and the ability of a small and brave country, using its best resources to offer resistance. It appears that the day before the invasion on the 19th March the entire leadership of the country, including Saddam Hussein, was wiped out by a targeted assassination strike, with deep explosion bombs, and the spirited early resis-tance was destroyed; the country was overrun, with utter devastation to Baghdad and other centres, including destruction of the treasures of ancient Sumerian world, as well as others of biblical and archaeological value. After all this was the location of the Garden of Eden. In the end one has to conclude that while Saddam was a hard man, what he said was true: “we will be invaded, whatever we do, or donʼt do, by the Mon- gols who will destroy” and what Bush and Blair said was a lie.
