Plenty of radical runners participated in the 14th Annual Pete De Mott Peace Trot last weekend, on Father’s Day, in Ithaca, New York. The race is named after the veteran Catholic peace activist who spent time in federal prison for numerous anti-war protests. This is the pre-race pump up speech from Pete’s daughter Cait De Mott Grady (above, with Mike Williams of Three Lyons Creative).

My mom asked me to say a few words about this year’s Peace Trot t-shirt. The shirt is based on a ceramic tile I made this spring with words from a Wendell Berry poem called Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front. The full poem is on the back of this year’s t-shirt, and I encourage you to give it a read.

For those who knew my dad, you likely heard him recite the Mad Farmer poem. This poem was a mantra for my dad, a poem he knew by heart, a poem he looked to as a guide, and a poem whose wisdom became a part of everyday life.

The first stanza of this poem calls out the dominant culture of the United States – a culture that Dr. King powerfully named for us as a culture of rampant materialism, militarism, and racism.

Then, for the rest of the poem, Wendell calls us into the work of liberation. He invites us into this struggle saying, “So friends, every day, do something that won’t compute.”

Wendell suggests ways to not compute such as:

– Put your faith in the two inches of humus that will build every thousand years.

– Love the Lord.

– Love the world. Work for nothing.

– Be joyful though you have considered all the facts.

I think for my dad, not computing took many forms. It meant living simply. It meant being a dad who always joyfully did the dishes. It meant participating in acts of civil disobedience challenging nuclear weapons and war, sometimes resulting in time in prison or jail. It meant radiating immense joy when he would sing with me and my sisters in the car when we were kids. It meant investing deeply in community.

And here we are, gathered as a community on this 14th year of the Peace Trot. It goes without saying that this moment in history, as our skies turn orange with smoke and ash as the climate catastrophe escalates and wars rage and wealth inequality grows and racism ravages our communities, is a moment calling out for each of us to find our own ways to not compute.

May we fight for a more just world. May we go to the field with our love and rest in the shade. May we divest from the ideologies that justify the destruction of our planet in the name of profit. May we reimagine public safety. May we invest in community. May we redistribute wealth. May we be joyful though we have considered all the facts.”