The Road to Peace.
There are times when I get discouraged in this world. From random people on the highway, to the very leaders who we entrust with our souls, I see so much anger, hatred, fear, arrogance, and worst of all, a belief in the righteousness of our own arguments.
Many times I wonder if we can ever come back from this precipice of destruction that we seemed poised upon.
And I don’t see many people advocating peace.
Today, as we remember the atrocity of 18 years ago, and the many lives that were taken then and since by the tragic illnesses that have befallen those who rushed in to help, we will feel sadness at the senselessness of the violence, and ask ourselves what we can do to stop this from happening again.
Some will suggest greater levels of violence, some will advocate further atrocities in the name of revenge. Some will desire more death, more bloodshed, and more destruction.
But I would humbly ask if that has ever solved the problem. Because what we are fighting against is the default nature of humanity. Not of a country, and not necessarily of a religion, but of the desire for violence and the silence of voices and actions contrary to what we believe. It’s as old as our species itself, and some days it shows no sign of stopping.
And while bullets can silence bodies, to silence a belief idea would require genocide.
Which some people seem to be ok with. Their ignorance terrifies me, because they seem to believe that you can kill your way to calmness, and destroy your way to your desires.
Those who advocate violence without understanding how it affects the world are the very people who may one day drive us over the edge of sanity, and into the darkness of desolation.
Because they will not let go of their sense of superiority.
Please understand, I am not saying that violence isn’t sometimes necessary; I am decrying those whose internal imbalances and lust for an imagined utopia unleash hatred upon humanity, and who believe that the end justifies the means. They exist in all religions, all races, all creed and all communities.
And today, I want to propose a way to remove them from their places of power.
Not by violence, and not by hatred. Rather, I believe that if we are to find peace, we need to begin with ourselves and our communities. We need to be the peacemakers, and raise the tone of our conversations and our lives so much that we create an essence of harmony, and a passion for peace.
We need to be better, kinder, more loving and caring so that those who desire to do harm to others will be seen for the aberrations that they are. We need to elect leaders who believe in a peace not of superior firepower, but of principles that balance the rights of the individuals with the needs of the world. We need to find the peacemakers, and bring their voices into the light.
Because each death, each act of violence, sows in time the repercussions that will come to pass.
The road to peace begins with each of us going inwards to silence the fear within us, and then sharing that peace outwards to those with whom we disagree, finding a way to exist together despite our differences. I’m not saying it will be easy, because it won’t.
I’m not saying that we won’t need the ability to defend ourselves, because that would be stupidity, and real peace is created by those who have a choice, not those who are too weak to defend themselves.
I’m saying we need to find our way to peace together, through talking, caring, loving and acting in a better way. I’m saying that if we truly desire to dwell in harmony, we need to find that in ourselves so that we can share it with others.
And that starts with each one of us.
— Dr. Alan Barnes
@maddrmusings