Peace and Love

Peace and Love

Some people are waiting for another Martin Luther King or an Abraham Lincoln, or a Gandhi or that special somebody to show up. What if there isn't anybody? This is our time. What if it's up to us?

Consider this, an almost unthinkable scenario: A world without violence. Where no child is abused, no wife battered, no friend raped. A world without terror, without threats, without wounds from intentional actions.

Where the strong provide for the vulnerable, where the vulnerable become empowered, where every kind of family is safe and secure, and girls and boys and women and men have a fair and equal chance at the pursuit of happiness in a tolerant and talented society.

A world without violence. Peace.

We can't even imagine it. -- The very thought eludes our grasp.

Why is that?

Is it a failure of our imagination, burn-out-disappointment seeing too much reality, gang killings, stalking, rapes, battering, child abuse, too many wars, or is it fear of failure, that we may not be able to be successful in achieving violence free-relationships, peaceful families and empowered communities -- are we so afraid to even dare to imagine it and thus able to even dream it?

I don't have the answer.

But I know the Vision is the ability to see the Invisible.

To see beyond the violence and yet to place ourselves in front of it -- so we can take compassionate action and create peace -- that's my definition of courage.

We are surrounded by violence everyday. We see it, feel it, witness it or read and hear about it. Of course there's also the heartbreaking violence of nature -- hurricanes and earthquakes -- but I'm talking about intentional violence. The capacity for violence is within us. Just as the capacity for peace is within is. As humans we are perched on the precipice of violence almost every moment -- we have that capability -- including all of us -- our reptilian brains could at any moment defend us against a real or perceived threat. There is an alligator in all of us.

Each moment that we refrain from hurting another being by speech, gesture, glance or deeds -- we are exercising courage. Often, thank goodness, we are successful and in those quietly courageous moments -- we are making peace.

And please remember the vision thing. Dare to make the invisible visible. Healthy relationships, peaceful families, empowered communities deserve the best of our imagination, and our never-ending commitment to make it happen. It is up to us.