Give Peace a Chance

As I approach the end of 2012, my heart and mind are turning to the New Year.  The echoes of rifle fire in an elementary school still ring in my head.  Images of knives being wielded in another elementary school haunt my imaginations.  Memories of bomb threats bubble up through a sea of remembrances.  Violence erupts, at it has always has, in the midst of our daily living.  This is not new.  Violence is part of the human experience.  It was in the beginning, and continues with us each and every day.

Violence exists because we have not been willing to admit that it is a natural part of life.  It is something that will require a fundamental change in the way we live our lives.  Even then, we will never be able to eliminate it, only limit its influence over our lives.  It is very much like any other disease.

At one time we believed that physical disease was something that came from outside our world.  It was caused by black magic, or poor morals, or the punishment of an angry god.  Therefore, to defeat it we had to find the magic words or the proper punishment or the right sacrifice to appease the gods.  We were not the direct cause.  We were victims of violence, not the perpetrators of it. 

None of these strategies have worked.  Violence continued to follow us day-by-day and century-by-century.  They failed because they did not look at the real locus of violence.  Violence lives in the hearts of every single human being.  Violence is part of who we are.  Like the organisms that attack our body and cause us to be come ill, violence is part of our daily living.  It rises from within us when we are particularly vulnerable.  It breaks out like a fever and causes us to lash out at those around us.  We do not want to admit it, but every single one of us is capable of unspeakable violence given the right circumstances and vulnerabilities.  To eradicate violence, we would have to eradicate the human race. 

Does this mean that we are stuck with violence?  Yes, we probably are.  But, we can reduce the incidence of it as we have reduced the incidence of small pox, cholera, and other diseases.  We can reduce our vulnerability to it by reducing our racist beliefs, our need to be in control, our need to compete, and our need to blame others for the natural consequences of our own actions.  Violence begets violence.  More violence leads to more violence.  This escalation is driven by vulnerabilities in the human heart.

As I turn to 2013, I pray that we will begin to discover the things that truly make for peace and give up on violence as a solution, but as the problem itself.  Armed guards at the doors of a school house will lead to more bullets flying down the hallways of our grandchildren’s schools.  May we accept responsibility for the violent culture we have created and begin to change some of the fundamental chords in our lives together. 

Pray for peace.  Become peacemakers.  Accept that you and I have the power to make our schools safe and our culture a place of peace.  Accept that we are not the victims of violence but those who commit it and contribute to our violent culture each and every day.  We may never be able to eradicate violence but perhaps we can create a world where violence is never viewed is the first option in expressing our anger and frustration.

In words from an earlier day, “Let’s give peace a chance!”

Bob Dees