By Louise Diamond
Some weeks ago I was a guest on a call-in talk radio show based in Washington
DC. I was asked to give my views on the war in Iraq, which was just then
winding down. The show’s host was a moderate, and his questions
were thoughtful and non-inflammatory.
Imagine my surprise, then, when callers began hurling angry and mean-spirited
comments at us both. They seemed to have two major gripes: that anyone
supporting peace must be unpatriotic, and that the Arab world was an inferior
member of the human family and required America’s help to bring
it into the 21st century. I left that show wondering when peace had become
such a dirty word, and how such blatant and unabashed prejudice could
so mar our public discourse.
In these last months I have heard from many people that to be against
the war in Iraq is to be a traitor. I have heard from business leaders
that they have to be very careful what they say and do, and that they
may lose customers if the very word ‘peace’ appears in anything
associated with their business, because peace is ‘anti-commercial.’
Some years ago I had my first peek into the mindset that holds peace
in a negative light. I was talking with a businessman about the work of
peacebuilding and conflict resolution around the world, and he reacted
strongly to the word ‘peace.’ When I asked him why it had
such negative connotations for him, he replied that he had fought in World
War II, and was proud of his military service, but that during the Vietnam
War era, his son, in protesting against the war, had demeaned and discredited
the armed forces. In other words, what he valued was repudiated in the
name of ‘peace.’ At that moment, I committed myself to reclaiming
the word ‘peace’ in our society.
Many people associate peace with being soft and wimpy; impractical and
unrealistic; or downright irrelevant. In times of war, it is our soldiers
who are revered and honored. Yet as one who has worked in places of deep-rooted
ethnic and communal conflict around the world, I can tell you that those
who work for peace are my true heroes and heroines. They are the most
courageous people I know. It is not only soldiers who risk their lives
in war. The peacebuilders also put their families, their jobs, their standing
in their communities, and often their lives on the line by reaching out
to the ‘enemy’ for dialogue and understanding, by seeking
win/win solutions, and by offering a vision for a better future for all.
Peacebuilders are also among the most practical and relevant people I
know. They protect human rights, build bridges for healing and reconciliation,
work to liberate and re-integrate child soldiers, seek justice where injustice
thrives, and defy their communities’ propaganda machines by educating
the people (and especially the children) in ways of peace and conflict
resolution. They practice nonviolent resistance to despotic regimes, and
may be imprisoned, jailed, tortured, and executed for their beliefs and
their actions.
Peacebuilders do not collude with the mindset that dehumanizes and demonizes
‘the other,’ seeking instead to listen, to discuss, to learn,
to feel compassion for, and to see themselves in the other, the other
in themselves. They realize that violence only begets more violence, that
polarization only splits us further apart, and that ‘either/or’
thinking eliminates creative possibilities, and so they seek alternatives
to violence, refuse to be caught in the limiting web of ‘us versus
them’ rhetoric, and will not tolerate the categorizing or labeling
of people based on their group identity (of race, nationality, gender,
religion, etc.).
Peacebuilders understand that we all have to live together on this one
planet we all call home, despite our many differences, and so they look
to honor those differences instead of making them the cause for conflict
or coercion. They refuse to see violence as the way to solve problems,
or to be caught up in cycles of hatred and revenge, preferring to keep
their hearts and minds open to finding common ground and shared interests
with their so-called opponents.
Who are these peacebuilders I speak of? You will likely never hear their
names or see their faces on television; they will not receive medals or
awards. They come from all walks of life, and can be found in every country
I have ever been to, including our own. They are old and young, poor and
rich, highly educated and barely literate. They number in the millions.
They work for religious rights in China; they reach across the Green Line
to hold dialogues between Israelis and Palestinians; they offer peer mediation
programs in our schools. Peacebuilders work for peace inside themselves,
for civil discourse in society, and for global comity and community.
What drives them to stay on the peace path – sometimes at great
personal risk – is that they have somehow touched the ideal of peace
– that same ideal that is held in every one of the world’s
major religions as one of our highest spiritual values.
It is this above all that fuels my incredulity when I meet people who
hold such a negative view of peace. Peace is what all our religions teach
us is the goal of human life, the outer expression of our spiritual heritage
as beings made in the image of God. Our great religious figures, past
and present, are revered as peacemakers. Jesus is the Prince of Peace;
he reminds us that ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall
be called the children of God.’ His Holiness the Dalai Lama is a
Nobel Peace Laureate. Similar messages and figures can be found in other
religions as well.
Our country was founded on principles that are synonymous with peace
– liberty, justice, and equality. Peace values and nourishes life;
it builds rather than destroys; it appreciates rather than denigrates.
Peace is inclusive, embracing everyone as beautiful and unique and necessary
to the whole circle of life. It speaks to the brotherhood and sisterhood
of all, leaving no child behind, nor any elder either. Peace is about
the open heart, an expression of compassion, empathy, and love. It exists
as a living spirit within us, a template of who we can be, all we can
be, if we so choose. Finding inner peace, and creating peace on earth,
are the two greatest journeys we can take as human beings.
I believe the peacebuilders and peacemakers of our world are the leaders
of our human family, taking us to our evolutionary edge and showing us
what it means to be responsible world citizens and dignified human beings,
able to transcend the baser elements of our nature and work instead from
our highest values and principles. I feel privileged to be counted among
their number. I am proud to use the word ‘peace’ every chance
I get: to own a business called The Peace Company, and to write books
called The Peace Book and The Courage for Peace. I am fervent about supporting
legislation that will create a cabinet-level Department of Peace in our
government. I am unwavering in seeking a culture of peace in our society,
rather than the current pervading culture of violence, and in supporting
the UN Decade of Peace and Nonviolence for the Children of the World.
In short, because of my values and my life experiences, I celebrate peace
in all that I do, and I choose it as a way of life. The next time someone
demeans me or others as ‘peaceniks’ I will refer them to the
New Testament, the Torah, or the Koran. The next time someone calls me
unpatriotic because of my work for peace, I will refer them to the US
Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Pledge of Allegiance.
And the next time someone tells me peace is for wimps, I will remind them
of the man who stood, alone, in front of the tank in Tiannamen Square
in 1989. For me, that picture says it all.
|