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Bob Bruce is a familiar and beloved face on campus. For the past six years he has served our campus community as the "reference librarian in the plaid pants." Father of four, grandfather of five "simply wonderful" grandchildren, Bob Bruce has been active in peace and justice issues for most of his life. As the advisor of the St. Olaf Peace and Justice Resource Network and the Northfield Human Rights Commission, Bob continues to live justice daily. How did you become interested in issues of peace and justice? Well, part of it is how can you not be? If you're in the world and if you have children, then one sees injustice in a variety of ways. Probably the first real overt peace and justice issue for me was the open and affirming work of the church towards gays. While none of my children happen to be gay or lesbian, I still know enough people who are that the issue kind of woke me up. I mean, good heavens. Having lived in Afghanistan and in Indonesia, there's this all of sudden realization that there are some major issues in the world- and I have been going around with my eyes closed to what is immediate and here and now. What role does peace and justice activism play in your life now? I'd love to say that it had an overreaching, overarching role. I guess itŐs an outlet for some of my non-library related concerns. Having an opportunity to work on the Peace Prize Forum for next year, having the opportunity now to serve on Northfield's Human Rights Commission are not huge commitments, but enough to sort of help me keep a focus in that area. Our minister now at the Church of Christ is also very healthily oriented in helping us be aware of some of these things. It's not a scolding "Thou shalt" kind of thing, but just an awareness. What are you going to do about the fact that this is the way it is? What is your response as a Christian? How should you be thinking about this issue? She doesn't scold us and say 'you have to do this and this,' but just sort of makes us sit up. Two of our sons and one daughter-in-law are actively engaged in community supported agriculture in Wisconsin. And they are deeply committed to the land and how one treats the land and how they raise their children doing that. They sell produce that is pesticide and herbicide free and that is an area of peace and justice that I sort of hadn't thought much about until they became actively concerned. What does it mean to live justly? You want a doctoral dissertation???... Part of living justly is leaving a small footprint, a light footprint, on the land, in the world. I'm an old white male. I was born and raised white male and we were socialized to think we went out and made a noble impact and it's taken me awhile to realize that what that impact means is not what I originally though it meant. It's not leading in very patriarchal and hierarchical ways. It's taken me a long time to learn what that really means. So, what is just peace? What is justice? What does real peace mean? Can you enforce peace, is that an oxymoron? So, how do you help people realize what justice is? What do you do when you get angry? You can talk about good land use policy and what they're leaving for their children. I wish I could deliver a great sermon on living justly, but I'm sure that most of my actions are unjust. I don't see it, but suddenly I hear myself using tones or using words that are not just words. Most important for me is trying to be just in my daily interactions with other individuals and it's a constant struggle... constant struggle. So, when I have a chance to step out and go to a Peace Prize planning meeting or human rights meeting and look at other issues that bring it back in the community- it's a gift to me! It's a really tough issue. What role does justice have in the life of St. Olaf students? Well, St. Olaf students, first of all have a learning role. You simply have to begin to gather enough information to find out what's going on. I am increasingly concerned that the curriculum in elementary and secondary schools aren't giving students enough peace and justice curriculum. Why is there the kind of violence that there is? Why are some people so scared or envious or power hungry that they do the kind of things they do? You must listen and hear and then begin to be involved. Find some project that's important to you, in some ways it doesn't matter what it is really, reaching about beyond yourself to find out what's going on out there. I think it's unrealistic for most of us, students and adults, to think that we can change the world, but can I change myself enough so that I am better and can maybe help the people around me?
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