Peace
July 4
We will have peace, we will because we must.
We must because we cherish life.
And believe it or not as daring as it may seem,
It is not an empty dream.
HOLLY NEAR
These words taken from a song by Holly Near, a singer and dedicated peace worker, speak the truth. Peace is not a fantasy. It can be achieved and will be achieved when we cherish all life. Too often our lives are run by fears. We fear difference and deny our connections to all life because of this fear. When the connections are denied, then we find it acceptable to destroy what we perceive as different and therefore threatening. Once we awaken to the interconnectedness of all life, we will cherish life. Those who cherish life do not harm life. When we no longer harm life, we will not create wars. We will invest just as much time, energy, and money into finding creative and peaceful solutions to our differences as we do now to building military defenses and using war as a solution to problems.
War and violence only beget more war and violence. To create peace we must make peace a priority. We must choose leaders who make peace a priority. It must be a personal decision for each of us...to choose peace rather than arguments in our personal relationships. We must look at all our actions and ask, Will this create peace and harmony or conflict?