Guns and Alternatives to Violence

To our surprise, two police officers signed up for our Alternatives to Violence workshop in Guatemala. I had never seen anyone come to one of the workshops packing a pistol, but they were on duty. Whenever there was any noise in the neighborhood, they explored it for us. Most of the time they were there as participants. They knew only one other participant, who had invited them to attend. But they opened up and shared their feelings, and soon we were all one community.

After the workshop one day, they offered to take us to a local hot springs. So off we went in the patrol car. The officers were on duty, so they wore their uniforms and black shiny boots and kept their firearms and handcuffs at the ready. On the way back to town, there was a church service which we decided to attend. They attended also, as they were Quakers. We were all invited: the swimmers with our wet hair and sandals, and the police officers with their uniforms, black shiny boots, firearms and handcuffs at the ready.  We made for quite a group. No wonder the congregation was interested in hanging around the church long after their usual departure time!