Of Peace and War

If you want peace, stop fighting. If you want peace of mind, stop fighting with your thoughts.

Peter McWilliams, Life 101, 1991

I have been reading  with horror and disbelief in the aftermath of the tragic Sandy Hill Elementary School shooting of how at least some American's reacted to this violence. There was news of that six grader whose parents gave him a gun to go to school with, so that in case there is a shootout in his school, he could protect himself. There was the news that  some Americans, in fear of new gun control laws, went out in big numbers to buy guns and assault riffles, while they could, in case they too, run into a crazy gunman in a shopping mall, in a movie theater, in a school, or who knows, maybe next time, in a hospital maternity ward. The latest I have heard was the shocking and idiotic proposal of the National Riffle Association to start supplying guns for teachers and train them to be  sharp shooters, so that they could protect themselves and schoolchildren, should another school shooting occur. Next, maybe someone will come up with an idea to teach children not Reading, Writing and Arithmetics, but the basics of armed combat and ABCs of war. 

 It makes me mad, angry, and sad that fighting violence with more violence appears so deeply engraved now into society, that these proposals and ideas can even occur to civilized people in the twenty first century and worse, they are debated, instead of quickly dismissed as what they are: crazy, stupid, dangerous and utterly ridiculous ideas . I thought we are supposed to evolve into unity and peace not regress into bloodthirsty Neanderthals.

It is clear to me, and I can not for the love of God (or Universe) understand why is it not clear to others, that being armed to the teeth does not prevent, but leads to armed fights. 

Then, I thought about the fact that these stupid, idiotic, dangerous and violent ideas are nothing but a sign of desperation: a desperate and loosing war of desperate, fearful, disconnected and depressed individuals desperately fighting for what all humans, -except the exceptionally ill and evil- individuals of all cultures and all societies really want: to feel loved, safe, free of threats  free of danger, free of fear, to feel at peace. 

And then, it occurred to me that there will be never ever peace on earth, peace between countries, peace between races, sexes, no peace in relationships and no peace in families, until there will be peace of mind of the individuals and therefore, a peace of the collective mind.

It is a contradiction, really. Until we learn to stop fighting our own fearful thoughts , until we stop arming ourselves with  negative, violent and angry ideas, until we stop fighting our thoughts, until we put down our weapons, our poisoned words, our verbal and mental staggers, until we stop throwing insults at each other and our own selves, until we stop abusing substances, abusing our children, our partners, our elders, our employees, our environment, our Earth there will be no peace in minds, no peace on earth and no peace in heaven.

One of us, all of us, have to stop fighting violence with violence, fear with fear, judgement with judgement, desperation with desperation. One of us, all of us, have to realize that peace starts with putting down the weapons, taking off our armors, destroying walls, borders and all of that separates us. 

Hate begets hate, fear begets fear, desperation begets desperation. The only way to win the war is to stop fighting it. 

I am not suggesting we should close our eyes to violence, to close our eyes when others are violated or not to react when we or others are in danger. There are other, more effective ways to fight against abuse, destruction, oppression and injustice, than violence. There are other, more effective ways to protect the innocent, to protect ourselves, there are more effective, peaceful ways to build a society and culture of evolved and intelligent Human Beings. Think Jesus, think Buddha, think Gandhi, think Mother Theresa, think Francis Agassi, think Martin Luther King, think Nelson Mandela, think...think...think...oh, if we could only stop and think, before pulling the trigger, if we could think before throwing the stone, if we could think before giving into hate. Because, if you think about it, eliminating all what leads to fights, wars and abuse, would make more common sense, than bombing or shooting the hell out of others. Loving the hell out of ourselves and other people would be smarter, cheaper, and yes, more civilized.

If there were no borders, we would not have to defend them. If there were no guns, we would not need gun laws. If there were a society based on love, tolerance, compassion, empathy  taking care of our and each other`s physical, emotional and spiritual needs, there would be no need to fight.

There would be peace on Earth, there would be peace everywhere and we could finally, individually and as species, have a piece of mind.

Let the force of peace be with you.....

Peace!