If I asked you to make three wishes that would be granted immediately, I can almost guarantee that one of your wishes would be world peace. But, do you truly want peace, or is that what you think you should wish?
When I was teaching fifth and sixth graders, we would often talk about what we could do to make the world a better place. One of the first things that would come up was bringing peace into the world. The students talked about their wish for peace, both in their immediate lives and in the world. They expressed a distaste for war, and they disliked the turmoil in their homes or on the playground, and yet they reacted to everyday situations with aggression. I led them through exercises in which they practiced alternate behaviors when they were confronted by a bully or when they became frustrated, but I never felt that they were able to internalize a more peaceful response to life's challenges. Practicing at school wasn't enough to change the training they received at home, in their neighborhoods, and in the media.
People who conduct polls report that peace is highly desired by the population. If it is true that the majority of people wish for peace, why aren't we doing something about it? Why are we as a society still taking a confrontational stance when we face challenges? As individuals we still aggressively defend our ego and vehemently see others as opposition. Our government is made up of opposing parties. How will we ever work together for the benefit of the people when we are fighting each other in Congress? We see people beyond our borders as outsiders who don't deserve the same rights that we enjoy as Americans, and we act aggressively to keep them from crossing the borders.
Listen to our language. We talk about the war on terrorism, the war on drugs and poverty, our battle with cancer, and even the battle of the bulge. We speak in non-peaceful terms. We fight what we don't like, rather than work toward a peaceful resolution to our problems.
All it takes to bring peace into the world is for individuals to begin living a life of peace. If families could live peacefully in their homes, then maybe we would have peace in the neighborhoods, and then in our country and ultimately across the globe. We must begin to see others as fellow humans who are also struggling to meet life's challenges. It all begins right here at home in our own hearts. We must develop inner peace so we can bring peace to the world.
We can't just talk about peace. We have to practice peace.
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