Mejia returned to Sherborn yesterday on the one-year anniversary of that visit to accept the Peace Abbey's Courage of Conscience Award. In the past year, a military court found him guilty of desertion, and he spent more than eight months in a military jail until his release last month. Despite the punishment he received, and the fact that he will be appealing his case through the military court system for the foreseeable future, Mejia, 29, said he believes he did the right thing.
"If anything, as far as my principles, my thinking, my feelings, they've only gotten stronger," Mejia said before the awards ceremony. "I continue to disagree with the war. I continue to be a conscientious objector."
Over the last year, the soft-spoken Mejia has drawn a mix of reactions -- from those who view him as a hero for defending his beliefs, to those who see him as a deserter and worse. He understands that some people strongly disagree with him, he said, and someday, he would like the chance to speak with the soldiers he left behind.
"It was a very painful decision -- these are people I love very much," Mejia said of the soldiers in his unit. "Not being there, and the fact that they were back there, it was very difficult."
A Nicaraguan immigrant who grew up in Miami, Mejia spent several years in the Army and then the National Guard before being sent to Iraq as a staff sergeant with a Florida National Guard infantry unit. After seven months in Iraq, Mejia came home on a 14-day leave in October 2003 and decided not to return.
Mejia spent five months in hiding, and during that time he came in contact with the Peace Abbey. The Peace Abbey counseled him about conscientious objection, and when he appeared there a year ago he signed a request to be treated as a conscientious objector.
That same day, Mejia turned himself in at Hanscom Air Force Base to face desertion charges.
"Over the past year and five months, we've gotten to know him," said Lewis Randa, director of the Peace Abbey. "We understand his motives, and the passions which underlie his decisions to support peace."
The Peace Abbey has given this courage award to more than 100 other people who stood up for their beliefs. Past recipients include Mother Teresa, the Dalai Lama, and Peter, Paul and Mary.
"I consider the Peace Abbey to be my spiritual home," Mejia said.
Mejia said the changes that have taken place in Iraq over the past year, most notably the recent elections, have not made him more likely to support the effort.
"How free an election can it be when you have insurgency and an occupying force -- personally, I'm not buying it," Mejia said.
Some of Mejia's family members joined him last night at the Peace Abbey, including his mother, Maritza Castillo of Miami, and his aunt Norma Castillo, who lives in New York.
"We're very proud of him, and we've supported him from the moment he decided not to go back," Norma Castillo said. "We, as well as he, feel the war is criminal, immoral and illegal."
Mejia has not been discharged from the military, but is on leave now as he appeals his case. Louis Font, Mejia's civilian attorney from Brookline, said that process could take several months or even longer.
Mejia said he plans to remain an active part of the anti-war movement, but he doesn't yet know how that involvement will take shape. He also plans to spend more time with his daughter, Samantha, 4 1/2, whom he has not seen often in the last couple of years.
When asked how he would advise similarly conflicted soldiers, Mejia said no two people experience war the same way, and that he cannot advocate one specific solution.
"I would tell them to follow their hearts," Mejia said. "I don't think anybody could go wrong if they follow their hearts."
( Jennifer Kavanaugh can be reached at 508-626-4416 or jkavanau@cnc.com. )
No comments:
Post a Comment