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the peace copmany
Peace is Not a Dirty Word

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.



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