Peace Anyone?

The World cries War! War! War! and my tiny heart weeps and cries for Peace. Peace and brotherhood beyond the confines of nations, religions and race. Isn’t it high time? Do we want the 21st century to be named the Darkest Ages Ever? Seriously! Have we progressed? Look back at history and you see the same pattern. Yes we had kings and queens and dictators but they all did the same thing. Religious persecution. Political supremacy. The same old nonsense.

And we are at it again. Our democracies are a joke…leaders go for war even when the people are turning out in huge numbers for peace rallies. Are we truly civilized? Does any other species hunt down and kill its own kind? Or even better, call the murderers ‘heroes’ and shower them with medals. Sometimes I think I’m part of a minority that believes all life is sacred and no one has the right to kill! But the people in power and the misguided media loves breeding intolerance. Why do you think something as personal as religion and spirituality is a topic for debate?

Then again my ‘righteous’ anger serves no purpose and my intention is not to set you afire. My intention is to help you hold onto peace amidst all the turmoil. To not get pulled into the drama and lies. Killing cannot be justified. Period! Let judgement be left to the higher ups and I don’t mean mortals! We are incompetent as human beings to judge our brothers or sisters.

A few years ago I wrote about the Peace Pilgrim – a woman who had dedicated her life to peace. Much like Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi did not resort to violence when the British did. The freedom he won for India did not involve any killing or blood shed. That is the power of peace. It’s like how in the Tao, Lao Tzu talks about water and how it is soft and weak and yet it has the power to carve canyons and erode rocks. Both Gandhi and Peace had inner peace and believed that if a majority of us choose peace, then violence will have to burn out because there wouldn’t be anyone to fuel it. When you react to violence with violence, you multiply it, make it stronger and it turns into a monster that consumes all. Not only the unjust and evil but also the righteous and good.

If you are married or in a relationship you know what I mean. If your partner is in a bad mood and says something they don’t really mean it’s better not to react or the whole thing blows out of proportion and before you know it you are serving your spouse divorce papers! Well, we all learn it the hard way. After years of tears, heartache and harsh words both me and my husband know when to bite our tongues and when to fight our battles. And in a our own small way we preserve the peace and our marriage!

If God is love and God is peace, how can there be room for war, hatred and strife? If God were this judgemental and wrathful he would have sent a million lightning bolts to strike all of us every time we did something wrong! Chances are He wouldn’t have missed and humans would be an endangered species!

Remember God or the forces of good (if you prefer) are with you as far as your attempts to find common ground, forgive and compromise, prevail. The moment you think you are better than ‘them’ and set out to defeat and destroy your opponent, God has left your heart and something else has taken over. And however much you justify your actions you are not coming from a place of love, a place of peace and definitely not from that place in God.

You and I sit in our living rooms and watch the madness unfold on television. Sometimes it’s easy to feel totally removed from what is happening in the world. But know this. Peace is cumulative. If you find peace in your heart and if you make peace with all the people who have wronged you, YOU are making a HUGE contribution to peace. The world needs every tiny heart that cries peace to join in the chorus. We will be heard eventually. But I need you to spread the word and embrace peace in your life everyday. Soon our deafening cries will be heard and truth & peace will definitely triumph. This insanity has gone on far too long. Enough is enough. Rise and shine on all you peace mongers!