Peacemaking as a lifestyle can serve to “pay it forward” to those men and women who served our country to preserve our freedom and to work towards peace.
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The idea that we honor those that have fought for our peace by actively supporting peace
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We honor those that have fought for democracy by voting and by being civically active
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We honor those that came back injured (on the outside and inside) by recognizing vocally the price they and their families paid…and that others who are protecting us in a time of peace now are still paying that price.
Today is Remembrance Day.
I remember as a child cutting poppy shapes out of red construction paper, and making crosses, and having assemblies where a retired soldier would come and talk to us. Those crafts would be pinned on the bulletin board and the elderly man with the beret and many pins on his navy blazer would impress upon us:
Never again
He was respected by us children. He said war was horrible and the cost immeasurably too high. We believed him.
We children believed that the adults would listen to the men who were there and said it should stop.
Repeat again next year. …and the next and the next
This world is full of conflict…ugly stuff, complicated stuff where it is generally a lot more confusing on the ground than at first blush in the paper or in Wikipedia…generations of systems dynamics where perpetrators have been victimized, and oppressors have a history of oppression.
It’s a whole lot messier than it seemed when I was a child.
Conflict exists at a global level…wars and “armed conflict”–a rather sanitized term for something gruesome and violent–exist in multiple places in the world. Conflict exists within countries as political parties criticize and coerce, cajole and complain, and in some places, bomb and brutalize.
Within cities and neighborhoods, school and organizations. Families, and couples. Gosh, talk to a guy who builds fences between people’s home…and he will tell you stories. Everywhere there are humans, there is conflict.
I’ve been wearing this pin for the last 10 days:
I recognize this isn’t gonna make a difference…wearing a pin doesn’t create peace.
But it does remind me as I wear it, that others have given their lives to allow us to live in peace…and so those of us that have received that gift have an obligation and responsibility to be peace-creators wherever we find ourselves planted.
If there is to be peace in the world, there must be peace in the nations.
If there is to be peace in the nations, there must be peace in the cities,
If there is to be peace in the cities, there must be peace between neighbours,
If there is to be peace between neighbours, there must be peace in the home,
If there is to be peace in the home, there must be peace in the heart
– Lao Tzu (570-490 B.C.)
I take seriously the idea that as mothers and fathers have the ability to calm and sooth themselves, they can calm and soothe their children, providing a safe and loving environment.
People, in their various roles as caregivers, teachers, parents, nurses, therapists, custodians, bus drivers create situations of peace, it will catch fire and spread.
As we look at people in the eye who are different than we are, and ask to understand their story, the world will change.
I’m aware that for many, Remembrance Day is not a day of thought where one ponders the significance of war in an academic sort of way.
Recent peacekeeping and conflict duties of our Armed Forces mean that many mourn a friend, an uncle, a grandchild today. Someone with a name and a face, someone that didn’t come home, someone who was loved. Our thoughts are with you today.
Others did come home. But they came home with parts of them shut down and shut off…a necessary component for survival. And I wait for the day, when all can go home to hug their children, mothers, spouses and friends. When the folks in other countries who flee conflicts can go home to a place where they feel they can belong…or arrive welcomed in a new country that will become their home.
This world is a messy, violent place. But it also a place of love and connection. And increasing the love and connection is a way to make is a less messy and violent place.
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