Thursday, April 19, 2007
Imagine
Imagine this-violence happening in our own country. This violence is huge-it happened at a place of education, something our country stands for and provides for its citizens. What happened at Virginia Tech is outrageous, emotional, scary, unbelievable. What happens in Darfur, what happens in North Korea, what happens in Chechnya, what happens in Congo-it's all terrible. But what is more terrifying to me is the lack of faith in a peaceful world. I held a peace program at my school last semester, and not a lot of people came, which is usual but I heard from some people that they did not attend because they do not believe in peace. WELL of course, peace doesn't seem reasonable when it is viewed as idealistic. What we need, and take this as a personal challenge, is a little faith in a peaceful world. That faith will lead to advocacy, action, and hopefully and eventually, SUPPORT for the global society that we live in today.
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5 comments:
Matt, thanks for this post. I've found that people don't always take nonviolence seriously because it does seem so weak and ineffective in comparison to the force of violence. There is an organization called The Peace Alliance (www.thepeacealliance.org) that is working to get a Department of Peace and an Academy of Peace that would be a sort of sister school to the military academy. When we finally do have these institutions, I think people will start thinking of peace as an attainable goal, rather than a far-off ideal, and will understand nonviolence as an effective process. We need to build a culture of peace to replace our culture of violence.
It's my first time here, I'm from Argentina and I'm trying to learn about the crisis in Darfur.
You're doing a good job here.
We must be in peace with ourselves so we can be in peace with others.
I think peace is an attainable goal, yes, but some people don't want peace, they don't need peace in our planet.
Let's start being in peace with ourselves, trying to give peace to every person who need it.
Greetings from Parana, Argentina.
I agree that what happened at Virginia Tech is tragic.
What I can't understand is the great value we place on American lives - as the press continues to pry into every aspect of each life touched by the tragedy, as America rises up and says "never again can this happen to us-" we're sending a strong message to the world.
The message is in our silence, our apathy, our political paralysis. We can't stop genocide - we're trying, but what else do you expect?
Meanwhile: the lives of middle class America can never be lost again, and we're committed to this. It's all we can talk about.
It's true. Our society is very egocentric. We can't really work to establish peace until we are able to communicate and work with each other empathetically...
When we had our Holocaust & Genocide Awareness Week, we sat in the student center and passed out information on the bridge over the road that pretty much cuts our campus in half. I got all kinds of "great" excuses for not talking information or talking to us.
"I'm not interested in learning about this"
"I have to get to the jean sale!"
"Genocide doesn't really affect me"
To all of these people, I'd have to say "Don't worry. You can stop genocide on the way back. It's not like hundreds of thousands of people are dying and millions have no home. Don't worry, it's okay."
Matt,
Thank you for keeping the faith in peace.
First, we must start with ourselves. Living each day as peacemakers. Treating each person we meet with dignity and respect.
We must handle our conflicts peacefully, learn how to listen actively, validate others needs, empathize, and try to help others get what they need in a peaceful way.
When we learn how to handle small conflicts peacefully, we will learn how to handle bigger conflicts peacefully.
We must also educate that we will all benefit from a peaceful world, even if it means giving up some of our material wealth.
Historically and even today, some people do profit by demeaning, or hurting others. We need to make this unacceptable legally and teach these people that they will benefit more long term from peace.
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