| One busy day, I was racing around
trying to get too much done, and I exclaimed to my three kids in the car, "We
can get both things done and kill two birds with one stone!" My daughter Annie
quietly suggested, "You mean feed two birds with one crumb, Mom, don't you?" I
stopped short, realizing how steeped my language is in the culture of war. I had
used "weapon" language without even knowing it. I was embarrassed and yet felt a
grace: if a child can become conscious of using a new language of peace, then
there is hope. Think about the business language: strategies, bullets, high-caliber, power point; about win-lose sports language like "decimate", "attack", "destroy the other team", not to mention the movies and video games that simulate the most gruesome annihilations over and over. The lies of propaganda, one-sided media coverage, the alienation of others (those terrorists, the axis of evil), all part of the "collective psychic numbing" of our times. The biggest lie of all is that nuclear weapons are going to protect us. Nuclear weapons are an assault on our life, our planet, and on the Creator of the universe. It seems to afflict what our people could be as a result of the mess seeming too big to handle for the average person, disconnected and disempowered. When the world food programme for children equals 1/70th of the annual world military expense, we see what a crisis we are in. Yet it inspired hope with the life examples of Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, Oscar Romero and others. Each spiritual leader lived the maxim, "no justice, no peace," nonviolently insisting on the truth, speaking truth to power without harming others or stripping their dignity. Imagine if we focused on this commonality, rather than what divides us; imagine if religions and religious leaders promulgated a global culture of peace and tolerance. We do not have to feel overwhelmed; that U. N. structures, NGO documents, UNESCO declarations, peoples' ideas for education exist already, that the internet is a rich source of counterculture information, connectedness and hope. Of what use is a vote or medical care in a war-torn society? A culture of war is like a house of cards; the house can fall and give rise, like the phoenix, to a new culture of peace. There are three fundamental ways to build a culture of peace: understand, participate, communicate. I'll bet our children can think of 50 more, going out and waging peace. |